


We've got scars from battles nobody won

by thegirl20, vellaky



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-26
Updated: 2014-11-26
Packaged: 2018-02-27 00:57:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 25,588
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2672906
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thegirl20/pseuds/thegirl20, https://archiveofourown.org/users/vellaky/pseuds/vellaky
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>(Established Red Queen relationship.)  Ruby joins Emma on her trip back in time instead of Hook and finds herself faced with the task of convincing the Evil Queen that they have a happy future together.</p>
            </blockquote>





	We've got scars from battles nobody won

**Author's Note:**

> This story was started with the intention of publishing during Red Queen Week on Not Quite Canon day. The trials and tribulations of co-authorship, as well as different timezones, meant that didn't happen.

Ruby catches Regina’s eyes through the mirror as she fastens her earrings, and smiles. The other woman grins back at her as she zips up her dress; a slight blush colouring her cheeks.  It’s still new; this ability to just _be_ with each other. In all the time they’ve been together, there’s never been an opportunity for them to just be happy together. There’s always been something hanging over them.   

Regina likes to tell people that Ruby pursued her relentlessly during their time in the Enchanted Forest, and that she eventually gave in, but they both know better.  In reality, both Regina and Ruby found themselves in a land that held mostly bad memories for them.  They both left behind a world that had allowed them a new beginning, a new chance at life.  They found that they understood each other. From understanding grew a tentative friendship.  Neither of them were looking for love and they certainly didn’t expect to find it with one another.  But somewhere in the midst of the struggle to thwart Zelena, a spontaneous kiss became two, then three.  They both fought it for a while, having been hurt in the past.  The attraction was strong, however, and their resistance didn’t last long. They had settled into the relationship comfortably by the time Snow was forced to cast the second curse, bringing them back to Storybrooke with no memory of their time together. Now that their memories are restored, Ruby’s trying not to worry that something else will crop up, as it always seems to  in Storybrooke.

Seeing Regina’s struggle with her zipper, Ruby turns from the mirror and glides towards her. Reaching out, she gently turns Regina around and finishes fastening the dress.

“I’m pretty sure you could’ve used magic to do that,” she murmurs into Regina’s ear, ducking her head down and pressing a quick kiss to the nape of her neck. She smiles against Regina’s skin as the other woman shivers slightly in response.

Regina turns, wrapping her arms around Ruby’s neck. “Perhaps I wanted you close.”

“So you thought you’d lure me in with your womanly wiles?” Ruby asks, her own arms settling easily around Regina’s waist.  She lowers her head for a kiss, but Regina turns to the side.

“I’ve _just_ applied this lipstick,” she complains.  “You’ll make us late.”

Ruby’s fingers are gentle on her chin, turning her back around.  “Your magic will fix that right up,” she says, leaning in and pressing their lips together.

“You’re very keen for me to use magic on just about anything, aren’t you?” Regina murmurs, following Ruby as she leans back and capturing her lips again.

“If it means a few more minutes of this?  Yes.  Absolutely,” Ruby agrees.

They meet in another sweet kiss and Ruby revels in the closeness, pulling her tightly against her body. She splays her hands over Regina’s dress at her back, wishing she was able to feel skin but Ruby’s aware they’re pushed for time. Centering herself, and reining in her desire, Ruby finds the willpower to draw back. Regina’s lipstick smeared face stares back at her and Ruby chuckles.

“What?” Regina asks, frowning.

“You’ve, uh, got a little lipstick…” Ruby gestures with her finger around her own face. “Like, everywhere.”

Regina raises a perfectly sculpted eyebrow. “You should see yourself, dear.”

Ruby rolls her eyes and turns in Regina’s arms, wrapping them around her waist. She catches a glimpse of herself and Regina in the mirror and laughs. They look like circus clowns. “Do your thing.”

Regina waves a hand in front of both of their faces and a purple haze washes over them. It’s taken a little while for Ruby to get used to Regina using her magic on her, expecting it to feel like something physical passing through her. But it doesn’t feel like anything. And when the haze passes, Ruby is staring into two unmarred faces.

“Perfect,” Ruby notes. “Just like you always are.”

“I’m not perfect, Ruby,” Regina mumbles, shifting uncomfortably, as Ruby turns to face her. “Far from it.”

Offering Regina a small smile, Ruby places a soft, barely there kiss on the shorter woman’s lips. “But to me,” she begins, “you are perfect.”

The mayor blushes a deep red that starts from her chest and creeps up her neck to colour her cheeks. This is something Ruby makes a point of doing from time to time.  Regina’s not used to receiving compliments. Not genuine ones, at least.  Ruby watches as she ducks her head, looking to the floor and shuffles her feet.   Ruby shakes her head with a smile and tips Regina’s face back up with gentle fingers under her chin.

“Don’t let _anyone_ tell you otherwise.”

A smile blooms on Regina’s face before she looks down again, leaning her forehead on Ruby’s shoulder.  The tender moment is interrupted by a ringing cell phone - Regina’s. Sighing, the woman moves toward her bedside table where the offending item is lying. She smiles at the name flashing on the screen.

“Henry! Ho- … Yes, I- … We were ju- …” Regina rolls her eyes to the ceiling, but Ruby can see the smile she’s still wearing, even as she’s being chastised by her son. “When you’re quite finished, I was trying to tell you that Ruby and I were just finishing getting ready, and we are leaving right now… Yes… I love you too… Bye Henry.”

Ruby is wearing a smile to match Regina’s by the time she puts her phone back down. She knows the last few weeks, hell, the last _year,_ has been tough on Regina.  Henry’s the most important thing in Regina’s life, and she gave him up for the greater good.  She deserves to see him as often as possible now that they’re back together. “I take it our presence is required?”

“Almost immediately,” Regina replies. “So, should we take the express route?”

Ruby raises her eyebrows and smirks, coming towards the other woman. “Oh, now you’re _offering_ to use magic?”

“My magic is far safer than that death trap you call a car,” Regina counters with a smirk of her own.

“Be nice,” Ruby warns, frowning. “What did she ever do to you?”

“You’re right.  It’s unfair to blame the car when really the driver is at fault.” Regina offers her arm to Ruby, ignoring the roll of her eyes and the look of disdain. “Shall we?”

“Certainly, your majesty,” Ruby says, winding her arm around Regina’s.  “The party doesn’t start until we walk in anyway.”

“You know me,” Regina says.  “I do love to make an entrance.”  She lifts a hand and purple smoke billows around them.  When it dissipates, they’re in the diner, with a number of surprised faces looking at them.  Regina raises an eyebrow, catching Mary Margaret’s gaze.  “Sorry we’re late.”

Ruby shoves her gently.  Sometimes Regina’s sense of humour doesn’t quite match up to other people’s.  Henry heads over to greet them and Ruby ruffles his hair as she passes on her way to see the new baby and his mother.  A quick glance backwards confirms that Henry is pretending to be annoyed that his mother is hugging him in public.  Ruby grins as she makes it to the booth Mary Margaret is sitting in.

“How are you both?” she asks, bending to push back the blanket that’s slightly obscuring the child’s face.  Automatically she lets out a soft ‘awww’ as he yawns, his little fist coming up as he stretches.

“We’re doing great,” David tells her.

Looking up at him, she shakes her head.  “I was talking to your wife and child,” she says with a smile.  “But it’s good to know you’re great too.” From the corner of her eyes she sees Henry dragging Regina over to the booth that she and her friends are sitting at. She slides over so Regina can fit, and Henry brings a chair over from another table.

“Hey Gramps,” Henry says. “Did you bring it?”

Grinning at his grandson, David nods his head. “I did.”

Mary Margaret frowns and throws a curious glance at each occupant of the table. “Bring what?”

Her husband reaches into a satchel and produces the book of Fairy Tales Mary Margaret once gave to Henry. “I thought maybe my uncle might like to know how you guys met,” Henry explains.

“Really?” A new voice is added to the conversation and everyone looks up to see that Emma has joined the group, accompanied by Hook. “I can’t hear the kid’s name yet, but I have to hear this story _again_?” She reaches over the table to brush her fingertips over her baby brother’s forehead, smiling.

“Well, my son should know where he comes from,” David tells her.

Emma raises her brows at her father and shoves her hands into her back pockets. “Are you sure you want the first thing he knows to be that his parents fell in love during an armed robbery?”

At this, Mary Margaret frowns. “I wasn’t armed!” she protests.

“Except with a rock…” Ruby adds with a smirk, moving out of the way before Mary Margaret can reach over and smack her hand.

“Delightful,” Regina puts in.  She shifts a little in the seat and Ruby lets her arm drape around her shoulders; she knows that Regina is uncomfortable discussing ‘the old days’ because of the part she played in them.

“I still have the scar,” David says, rubbing his thumb along the mark on his face.

“Which _healed,_ ” Mary Margaret says with a slight roll of her eyes.  She addresses her next words to the baby in her arms.  “But that’s just how we met.  It’s not how we fell in _love_.”

“Yeah,” David agrees.  “That was a bit more complicated.”  Henry turns the page of the book, landing on an illustration of David fighting Black Knights.  “See? There were Black Knights, and I saved your mother's life.”

“Is this really suitable story material for an infant?” Regina asks with a frown.

The Knights were Regina’s, Ruby realises.  She squeezes her a little more tightly against her, not knowing how else to comfort her in this slightly awkward situation.  Another turn of the page reveals a picture of Snow White at the Troll Bridge.

“And the attack on the Troll Bridge, when I saved _his_ ,” Mary Margaret continues as though Regina hadn’t spoken. She turns the page and smiles at the illustration; she’s trying on David’s mother’s ring. She looks up to find David is also smiling.

“But it wasn’t until I saw my mother’s ring on her finger that I knew in my heart there was no other woman I would ever love.”

“You should’ve told me _then_. We would have saved so much time!”

David’s brows are half way up his head. “Well, how could I? I had to get to my wedding.”

“Sorry,” Hook interjects, confusion crossing his features. “Did I miss something? You were previously betrothed, mate?”

David and Mary Margaret almost look guilty and Ruby answers the question. “To Kathryn.” She inclines her head, gesturing towards the blonde who is currently speaking with Granny. “Though, she was Princess Abigail back then.”

At this, Hook raises an eyebrow at David. “King Midas’ daughter? The man who can turn anything into gold?” He frowns. “Why would you leave _that_ opportunity?” This earns him a swift smack on the chest from Emma.

“Hey!” Mary Margaret scolds.

David shrugs, looking at Mary Margaret and smiling. “Well, what can I say? My heart was destined for another.”

Chuckling, Ruby intervenes. “You just had to find her first. She ran away and was living on a farm.” She still remembers that first glimpse of a  young Snow White.  Crouched over and hidden by an opulent white cloak, she hadn’t resembled the usual kind of egg thief.  When their eyes met, Red had known this girl was in need of help.  Her lips curl into a smile as she remembers the girl’s halting attempts to introduce herself.  First as ‘Frosty’, then as ‘Margaret’, and finally as ‘Mary’.  She frowns and looks at Regina who is seemingly fascinated by her hands.  How could those names have possibly ended up as Mary Margaret’s curse names?

She has no time to query it because Mary Margaret takes up the reminiscence.  “Oh that sounded like such a peaceful life at the time.  Leave everyone and everything behind.”  She sighs, but there’s a smile on her face.  

“Like mother, like daughter,” Hook says, quietly.  The mood at the table immediately changes and Ruby feels Regina tense up even further.

“Hook,” Emma warns, her voice low.

Henry looks from Hook to Emma.  “What is he talking about?”

Emma’s eyes widen as if she’s been caught in something she didn’t want to bring up.  Her brow creases as she searches for an answer.  Sensing his daughter’s discomfort, David turns a page of the book.  “Uh, should we read more stories?”

“Actually, I’d like to know what the pirate is talking about,” Regina interjects, her voice and eyes both hard, though Ruby can hear how fast her heart is beating and how her breathing has quickened.  Regina is afraid.

Emma shakes her head, trying to appease Regina. “It’s nothing,” she mumbles.

Regina glares at her, and Ruby squeezes her thigh under the table in an effort to calm her down. “You’re not planning on going back to New York, are you?”

“Why would we go back to New York?” Henry asks, hurriedly. His eyes search Emma’s for a response.

“You’re _not_ ,” Regina tells her son. “Right, Ms. Swan?”

“Actually it’s complicated.”

Henry’s wide eyes flit between both of his mothers before landing on Emma, and he frowns again. “Why would we leave? This is our _home_ ,” he beseeches.

Emma places a hand on her son’s shoulder, and Henry moves away from her touch. “Henry, this isn’t the time or the place.”

“I think it is,” Regina says, steel evident in her voice, though her body is almost shaking.  Ruby squeezes her leg again but it does nothing to relieve the tension.

Emma sighs and shakes her head.  “No, it’s not.”  She turns away from the group and heads for the door of the diner, yanking it open and walking out before anyone can stop her.

“I’ll talk to her,” Hook says, making a move to follow.

“No!” Ruby’s unexpected yell halts his progress.  She urges Regina to move and let her out of the booth, ignoring the confused look on the faces at the table.  She’s sure Hook would make an admirable attempt at talking Emma round, but he won’t fully appreciate the nuances of the situation.  Ruby has a unique perspective on the whole thing.  Not only is she close to Emma’s parents - in another life, she’d have been Emma’s godmother - but she knows Henry pretty well too.  Add to that the  fact that she’s in love with Regina and she thinks she’s pretty qualified to give a more rounded viewpoint than anyone else who’s present.  “Let me speak to her,” she tells Hook.  He actually looks a little relieved at the offer.

“Be my guest.”  He makes a sweeping gesture to the door.

Regina’s hand grabs her wrist and she turns to the other woman, finding questions in her eyes.  She tries to give her a reassuring smile.  “I’ll talk to her.  It’ll all be fine.  I promise.”  The words feel a little heavy in her mouth as she realises the importance of what she’s doing.  Regina’s eyes search her own before she gives a little nod.  Ruby’s gaze sweeps over the rest of the group.  “We’ll be back before you know it.  Don’t name that kid without us!”

Mary Margaret smiles, but there’s concern hiding underneath it.  Henry is still unsettled and she ruffles his hair affectionately.  “Don’t worry, ‘kay?”  He nods, his eyes straying towards Regina.  Ruby follows his eyes and turns her attention to the other woman, leaning in to place a brief kiss on her lips.  “Be back soon,” she murmurs.  “Keep me a piece of pie?”

Regina nods and Ruby notes the unshed tears in her eyes. Ruby bites the inside of her cheek and starts to move away from the table, but Henry’s voice stops her. “Here. Take this.” He hands her the book of Fairy Tales and Ruby takes it with a small smile. “It might help her remember where she belongs.”

With a smile, and a final nod to the group, Ruby bends to press another kiss to Regina’s lips before turning and exiting the diner.

 

* * *

 

“I don’t want to talk to you about this,” Emma declares as soon as Ruby makes her presence known. “You’re probably the _last_ person I want to talk to about this.” She frowns.  “Well, after Regina and my parents.”

Ruby ignores Emma and sits down next to her on the bench. She shrugs her shoulders and drops the big book into the blonde’s lap. “Fine by me. You can read instead.” 

Emma picks up the heavy tome and pushes it back into Ruby’s hands.  “I’ve read it, thanks.”

“Have you?” Ruby asks, with a tilt of her head.  “Did you _understand_ it?”

Emma raises an eyebrow.  “I may not have gone to college, Rubes, but I think I can just about handle a book of fairy tales.”

“These aren’t tales, Emma,” Ruby tells her, pushing the book back into her hands.  “This is history.   _Your_ history.  It’s part of you and you’re part of us.”  Emma looks away, down at her feet.  Ruby frowns.  “But you don’t seem to think so.”

“I’m not in this book,” Emma counters.  When Ruby goes to protest, Emma gets in first.  “Except as a baby that was put in a magic closet and sent to Maine.  Alone.  I’m not part of anything.”

“How can you say that when you _know_ how much your parents love you?  How much they sacrificed for you?” Ruby says, before biting her lip.  It’s not her intention to give Emma a guilt-trip over this.

Emma lifts her eyes and Ruby finds herself surprised by the amount of resentment they hold.  “This book?” she begins, tapping the cover.  “Is pretty much all about how your girlfriend terrorised my parents to the point that they had no choice but to send me away.”  Ruby feels the words like a blow to the chest.  “So maybe you shouldn’t be encouraging me to remind myself of that.”

Looking down at the book, Ruby flicks to the page that shows the Evil Queen gatecrashing Snow and Charming’s wedding. She runs a hand over the illustration, thinking back to all those years ago. She looks back up to meet Emma’s eyes - which are still hard - and nods her head. “You’re right,” she agrees, because Emma _is_ right. “But if you want to talk complicated, let’s discuss your _mother’s_ relationship with Regina.” She sighs. “If anyone should bear a grudge against Regina, it’s her.  And yet they’re sitting together right now, eating pie.”  Ruby sighs.  “Look, it happened, and it was awful…but it needs to stay in the past, Em. The woman that was sitting at that table with us at the diner? That’s not her anymore.” She points to the picture of the Evil Queen in the book.

“Yeah, yeah, we’re all thrilled at Regina’s redemption,” Emma mutters with a roll of her eyes.  “She gets forgiven, gets to be mayor and gets to sit at the table with my parents...and I get _my_ life with _my_ son ripped away from me.  But let’s make it all about Regina.”

“It was a life that was given to you, Emma,” Ruby counters, starting to feel her frustration rise. She reins it in, because she knows Emma is upset, and she has no plans to try and guilt her into a decision that’s not hers. “If not for Regina doing all of that, you wouldn’t have Henry now.”

“ _Given_ to me?” Emma spits.  “She took _everything_ from me.  She’s the reason I grew up feeling unwanted, unloved, _alone_.  She’s the reason I’m the same age as my mother.   _She_ made me into the person I am...and I’m supposed to just take it and smile.”

“I’m sorry you felt that way growing up,” Ruby’s voice is softer as she says this, because she does genuinely feel that way. “But you can’t honestly tell me you feel that way now. Your parents _love_ you. They _need_ you and they _want_ you. Why would you run away now that you have that?”

Emma’s lips are pressed together so tightly they’re turning white.  She closes her eyes and shakes her head.  “My mother made it very clear that she wanted another child because she’d missed all of the interesting parts of my childhood.  Well, she has one now.”  A tear escapes her eye and rolls down her cheek.  “I had a life, in New York.  A life that was mine and Henry’s.  Where I wasn’t a saviour or a princess or anything ridiculous.  I was just me.”

Ruby takes a chance and places a hand on Emma’s back in a gesture of comfort. “That baby doesn’t mean your parents love you any less. They did what they had to to give you your best chance. Because they had no choice. Not because they wanted to.” She sighs again. “And I know you had a life in New York… But those were false memories.”

“I could’ve had that life,” Emma says.  “Instead I gave my child up and he landed in the hands of the Evil Queen.”

Ruby bristles at the words, but keeps her feelings in check.  “And that _Evil Queen_ brought him up to be the person he is today. Who did nothing but love and care for him. Who is no longer the Evil Queen because he taught her how to love again.”  

“Lucky her,” Emma mumbles, before her attention is drawn to something over Ruby’s shoulder.  “What the hell is that?”

Ruby is about to tell Emma that Regina _is_ lucky to have been given a second chance, but the blonde’s words stop her and she turns to look over her shoulder. Her brows furrow in confusion as she tries to make sense of the golden light show happening in the distance. “I have no idea,” she murmurs.

“I’m checking this out,” Emma says, getting up and heading off in the direction of the strange light, without waiting for Ruby.  The book is abandoned on the bench between them.  Ruby sighs and picks it up before running after Emma, easily catching up with her.

“Hey, wait!” Ruby lopes alongside the blonde, keeping pace with her with no effort.  “Shouldn’t we go back?  Get help?  This looks like serious magic.”

Emma holds up her phone.  “David left a message.  It’s Zelena’s time portal.  Somehow she died and triggered it.”  They’re nearly at the barn and Ruby reaches out and catches Emma’s arm, pulling her to a halt.

“You _know_ how powerful Zelena i-...was,” Ruby swallows down her concern over how Regina might have taken this news.  “Let’s go back and get the others.  Maybe Regina ca-”

Emma shakes her off.  “You go get them if you want.  I’m going in.”

“To do what, exactly?” Ruby counters with raised brows. For someone who didn’t want any part of anything magic related, Emma sure seems to want to go into this head first.

“I don’t know. Try and figure out a way to close it?”

Ruby shakes her head and attempts to reach out for her again. “Not without a plan. We’re leaving.” She tugs on Emma’s arm to pull her in the opposite direction, but a fierce banging sound stops her in her tracks as the doors swing open. They both start sliding towards the time portal, but Ruby reaches out with her free hand and holds on to the door to stop them. She tightens her grip on Emma’s hand. “Hold on!” 

Even as she says it, she feels Emma’s hand slip and she’s getting harder and harder to hold onto.  “I can’t!” Emma screams, her hand finally sliding all of the way out of Ruby’s grasp.  Clawing at the ground, she is sucked into the glowing portal.

“Emma!” Ruby screams, but the other woman is gone.  Looking up at the sky, Ruby sighs.  There’s no way she can let Emma face whatever’s on the other side of that portal by herself.  Mary Margaret would never forgive her.  Hell, she’d never forgive _herself_.  With a silent apology to Regina and Granny, she lets go and allows herself to be dragged in just as Emma was.  The light is almost blinding and she closes her eyes against it.

 

* * *

 

Ruby and Emma land on their faces, one after the other, both letting out undignified ‘oofs’. When Ruby looks up, it’s immediately obvious that they’ve landed back in the Enchanted Forest.

“No. No, no…” It sounds like Emma has recognised where they are as well. “Seriously? Here? Again?”

Pushing herself up from the ground and dusting herself off, Ruby says, “Where did you think we were going end up? Disneyland?” She looks around the forest trying to figure out exactly _when_ in time they’ve landed.

“And me without my mouse ears,” Emma snips with a glare. She also picks herself up from the forest floor and dusts herself off.

“We need to figure out what point in time this is.”

Emma groans and points to a tree behind Ruby, and she turns to look as well. “I have a pretty good idea.” Pinned to the tree is a ‘wanted’ poster with a picture of Snow White.

“Great,” Ruby says, her mind going over all of the implications this time period.  “Just great.”  Her eyes widen.  “Oh shit...I’m already here!”

Emma frowns at her.  “Did you hit your head when we landed?” she asks.  “Of course you’re here.”

“No, not this me,” Ruby says, gesturing at herself.  “The me that was here the first time around.  Your mother’s friend and accomplice.”

“Oh.   _Oh_.”  Emma’s eyes mirror Ruby’s.  “Well...that’s gonna cause problems.”

Ruby nods.  “It’s like you’re Marty McFly and I’m the Doc.” 

“Jesus,” Emma moans. “As if being a fairy tale character wasn’t bad enough, now we’re in Back to the Future?”  She stamps a foot.  “I should’ve left Storybrooke as _soon_ as we defeated Zelena.”  She turns to Ruby.  “This is _exactly_ the kind of thing that _doesn’t_ happen in New York.”

“Pffft,” Ruby scoffs, though her eyes are scanning the forest.  “I’ve seen Ghostbusters.”

“This is no time for jokes, Ruby!” Emma almost screeches.  Before the words are fully out of her mouth, Ruby’s hand is covering it and she’s yanking Emma behind a tree.  She can hear horses approaching, and a carriage.  Her senses are on high alert, and she’s almost afraid to breathe through her nose because she’s pretty sure she knows whose scent she’s going to pick up.  The carriage comes to a halt nearby and Emma is getting squirmy in her hold, so she loosens her arms a little, but holds a finger over her lips and gestures to some bushes.  As they make their way over, crouched as low as possible, the scent Ruby had been expecting makes itself known.  It really is unmistakable and Ruby’s stomach dips when the door to the carriage opens.

Regina steps out, resplendent in a long red coat and leather pants, a hat topping the ensemble off.  Despite herself, Ruby feels her body react to the sight.  Evil or not, Regina’s _always_ been gorgeous.

“That’s Regina,” Emma whispers, as if Ruby isn’t acutely aware of that fact.

Ruby sighs.  “You were talking about the Evil Queen earlier,” she whispers back.  “Well, you’re about to meet her.” Ruby closes her eyes; this is a terrible situation.  She opens them again and finds Emma looking at her strangely.

“This isn’t...like...turning you on, is it?” she whispers.

Ruby rolls her eyes.  “Of course not,” she responds, even though there’s a tiny part of her that she’s valiantly trying to ignore that _does_ find it slightly exciting.   She turns back to the scene playing out in front of them. She feels eyes on her, and Ruby turns her head to be met with Emma’s scrutiny. She sighs. “ _What_?”

“Seriously. You just… _overlooked_ all of this?” She asks judgmentally.

“Did you _overlook_ the fact that Hook is a pirate who came to town to help _Cora_ wreak havoc?” Ruby hisses back.

“Being a pirate has nothing on being the Evil Queen.”

“Oh, so we’re ranking evilness now, are we?” Ruby retorts, increasingly annoyed by Emma’s attitude.  “So tell me, where does a werewolf who killed dozens of people sit on that list?”

“Ruby...that’s...that’s different,” Emma falters.

“Let’s just agree that people can change, okay?” Ruby says, turning once again to watch the proceedings.

“Here’s what helping Snow White looks like,” Regina’s rich voice makes something tighten and tug, low down in Ruby’s stomach.

One of the henchmen reveals a hostage; a young woman who blinks against the light when a sack is pulled off her head. Her hands are bound and she screams for help.  Ruby’s instinct is to rise and help. She barely moves when she feels Emma’s hand on her wrist, tugging to keep her down.

“What are you doing?” she whispers hurriedly. “If you’d actually watched Back to the Future, you would _know_ you can’t mess with the past.”

“And if you knew me, you’d know that I’m not about to watch Regina kill an innocent person,” Ruby argues. Knowing the Regina she knows now, she’s not sure she could handle watching the Evil Queen do this.

“So what, you save her, kill yourself and I’m left here alone?” Emma’s eyes are wide and wild, and Ruby can read the worry in them.  She turns her hand and capture’s Emma’s, squeezing gently.

“She’s not gonna kill me,” she says, with a little more confidence than she feels.  “I’m a _way_ better prize than whoever that is.” She nods towards the clearing.  “She’ll want to get all of the information she can out of me.  And, I hope, that I’ll be able to keep her talking...maybe talk her into helping us get home.”

“And if she doesn’t?” Emma counters. She inclines her head to woman in question. “She doesn’t seem very charitable in this land…”

“If she doesn’t...then we better hope that you’ve found someone who will,” Ruby says.  She squeezes Emma’s hand one final time.  “Find Rumpelstiltskin.”

“And do _what_?”

Ruby snarls. “Jesus, Em. You’re the _saviour_. I don’t have a game plan, we just need to figure it out.”  Sometimes Ruby really wonders how the first curse got broken at all.

Emma doesn’t get a chance to respond as Regina’s voice cuts into their conversation. “Who wants to be next?”

Steeling herself for what she is about to do, Ruby stands from her spot and approaches the crowd, ignoring Emma’s hushed pleas. “I do.” 

She hadn’t really prepared herself for how she’d feel when Regina’s eyes land on her and show no signs of affection, only distaste.  The Queen’s gaze drifts up and down her body, her lip curling in a sneer.

“Well, well, what have we here?” Regina drawls.  “Snow White’s lap dog.  Come to nip at my heels, have you?”  She frowns.  “What _are_ you wearing, dear?”

Ruby ignores the question about her clothing and holds Regina’s eyes.

“Let her go,” she instructs.  “And I’ll come with you. Quietly.”

Regina laughs, though there’s no amusement behind it.   “And what makes you think you’re in a position to tell me what to do?” she demands.  “I’ll take everyone in this village if I want to.   _And_ you.”

“I know more than everyone here combined,” Ruby continues, taking a few steps closer to Regina.  “Why bother with useless hostages when you could just have me?”

Regina tilts her head in curiosity and Ruby recognises the gesture.  It’s the same thing she does if Ruby won’t tell her what she has planned for a date or for a special occasion.  “You hold yourself in _very_ high esteem, wolf.”

“I have reason to.  And you know it.”  It’s well known that Red and Snow are as thick as thieves.  No-one in all the land knows more about Snow White than Red at this particular point in time.  “Let her go.  Take me.”

After a moment of consideration, Regina shakes her head.  “There’s something going on here that doesn’t make sense.”  She narrows her eyes at Ruby.  “I _will_ take you.  But I’m also taking _her._  Just to remind you that I am the Queen and _no-one_ tells me what I can and cannot do.”

Before Ruby can react, Regina lifts a hand.  There’s a tightening around Ruby’s neck and she clutches at the invisible restriction.  Regina tugs and Ruby falls to her knees, realising too late that she’s on a magical leash.  She scrambles to get back to her feet but Regina shortens the leash again, making her stumble.

“Come on now, girl, heel,” Regina says, with a smirk as she turns and heads back to her carriage, pulling Ruby with her.  Ruby stumbles along, somewhere between crawling and walking, and catches Emma’s eye, offering her a reassuring smile.  It doesn’t appear to work.

 

* * *

 

She’s thrown into a prison cell carelessly, bringing up dust and dirt as she goes. The other prisoner is treated no better, only she’s yelling abuse at Regina’s guards. Upon their arrival  at the castle, Regina had barked orders at her guards before disappearing. This throws Ruby’s plan off somewhat, as it relies on being able to _talk_ to Regina in hopes of enlisting her help to get back to Storybrooke **.** Scrambling to her feet, Ruby hurries towards the bars of her cell, gripping them. “I need to speak with Regina!” She realises, too late, her mistake as she’s met with an arrow pointed between her eyes. She backs away slowly with her hands up.

“You don’t give orders, _wolf_.  And you will not address your _Queen_ in such a manner.”

The tip of the arrow glints in the light from the torches on the walls; it’s been dipped in silver.  Ruby nods slowly, her hands still in the air.  “Okay,” she agrees, not wanting to aggravate the guards unnecessarily.  Regina might understand the value she holds as a bargaining tool, but her guards probably do not.  “But...can you _please_ ask her majesty to speak to me at her earliest convenience?”

“Her majesty will speak to you if and when she’s good and ready,” the largest guard tells her, spittle flying from his lips as he speaks.  Ruby wrinkles her nose; she’d forgotten how bad people smelled in the Enchanted Forest.

Ruby nods her head. “When she’s good and ready,” she repeats. The guard lets the arrow fly and Ruby ducks and rolls out of the way as the projectile embeds itself in the wall where her head should have been. She stays crouched on the floor.

“The next one won’t miss,” the burly guard warns amidst the chuckles of the other guards. They wait for nothing more as they turn and leave the dungeons.

“You won’t get anywhere with them,” the woman opposite Ruby’s cell speaks once the footfalls fall silent.

“A girl’s gotta try, right?” Ruby murmurs as she stands and walks towards the arrow. She leans in and sniffs it before wrapping her hand around it and pulling it out of the stone with ease. She snaps it in half over her knee and puts each stick in her side pockets. Whatever happens, she _will_ be prepared. 

“I don’t know what you plan to do with those, but I’d give up on it, if I were you.”  The other woman is sullen now, the fight seemingly having gone out of her.

“Just for protection,” Ruby tells her.

“You get yourself thrown in prison and then put a broken arrow into your pocket for _protection_?”  The other woman shakes her head.  “You’re not great at planning, are you?”

“I’m more of a shoot first, ask questions later kinda gal,” she quips, scanning her eyes over her prison.

“No wonder you’re in here,” the woman mutters under her breath, watching her cellmate examine her surroundings. “Who are you?”

“I’m Ru...ed. Red.” There’s nothing in her cell that can help her out. And if Regina was smart enough to give her guards silver-tipped arrows, Ruby has no doubt that the bars of her cell will be spelled to cope with a werewolf’s strength.   Deciding to test her theory, she moves to the bars and tries to pull them apart.  Sure enough, they don’t budge.  She sighs and turns back to face her companion.  “What’s your name?” 

The woman shakes her head. “I dare not speak it in here. The Queen doesn’t know who I am. My silence is the only thing keeping my family safe.”

There’s a pang of hurt somewhere in Ruby’s chest at hearing Regina described in such terms.  She’s not sure why because she _lived_ through this.  She _knows_ what Regina has done.  But it’s so far removed from the woman she knows and loves that it feel unreal.  “She’s…” She should agree, show solidarity.  “...something else.”

“She’s ruthless,” the woman spits, hatred burning in her eyes.  “She’s cruel and spiteful and heartless.   _That’s_ what she is.”

Ruby feels anger bubbling inside her at the words used to describe Regina. She physically shakes herself. This woman isn’t describing _Regina_. She’s describing the _Evil Queen_. “Y-yeah. She w… is.” She can feel the bile rising in the back of her throat.

“And yet, you chose to have yourself thrown in her dungeon.”  Ruby’s cellmate shakes her head.  “Why would you do that?  Why offer yourself up for me when you don’t even know me?  Why issue yourself a death sentence?”

“Because I...wait, what?” Ruby frowns.

“We die tomorrow,” the woman tells her.  “The day after if we’re lucky and the Queen has something better to do.”  Off Ruby’s stunned expression, she offers a bitter laugh.  “What did you _think_ was going to happen?”

“I…” Ruby pauses. She _didn’t_ think. “That she would… just leave us here to rot?”

The other woman lets out a hollow laugh. “That’s awfully optimistic.”

“I try to look on the bright side,” Ruby says, though her humour falls flat.  “Wh-what did you do?  Why is she executing you?”

“I wouldn’t tell her where Snow White is hiding.”

_With me_ , Ruby thinks.  “And that’s more important to you than being with your family?” she asks, her voice a little rough.  “You’d die for Snow White?”  As would Ruby.  In a heartbeat.  But at least she _knows_ her.

“It’s important to me that my son grows up in a world where he doesn’t have to be afraid that he’ll be terrorised or hunted or killed for doing what he believes in,” the woman says, and then bites her lip, looking around the cell as if the Queen might suddenly materialise now that she’s mentioned a child.

Hearing this woman talk about her son is a lot like listening to Regina talk about Henry.  Ruby smiles sadly.  “I...I think most people would agree with you there,” she says.  “But not many would die for it.”

“You’re clearly not a mother,” the woman says, without bothering to ask.  “You can’t understand.”

“I’m not,” Ruby admits.  “But my...my partner has a son.”

“Your partner?” the woman enquires.

Ruby smiles sadly.  “Maybe that’s a term from where I come from...the person I plan to spend my life with.”

“Ah,” the woman nods.  “A stepchild, then?”

Frowning, Ruby considers the question.  “I...I’m not sure we’re quite there yet.  But I’ve known him since he was a tiny baby.  I’ve watched him grow up.  I love him.”

The woman looks at Ruby curiously and crosses her arms over her chest. The action puts Ruby on alert. “You speak so freely in here. Are you not afraid that the Evil Queen is about to take your family away from you? That she might find your partner and his boy and do to them what she is about to do to you?”

Ruby actually laughs at the absurdity of the question, but quickly stops when she sees the other woman’s mistrust grow.  “I’m sorry...I’m not laughing at you,” she assures her.

“It certainly seems that you are.”

“My partner is a woman,” Ruby explains,   _Who just so happens to be the woman who locked us in here_.

“Oh.” This doesn’t seem to faze the other woman too much. “My question still stands.”

“I worry about something happening to them every day,” Ruby begins carefully, “but not by the Queen’s hand.” Ruby looks at the other woman to see her shaking her head. 

“Well you must be a very foolish woman if you think the Evil Queen will spare anyone who gets in her way.” 

Ruby swallows and sits down against the stone wall, bringing her knees up. “I’m hoping it ends with me.”

“Again, your optimism astounds me,” her companion says.  “She’ll stop at nothing until she gets Snow White.  Or she’s stopped once and for all.”

The words chill Ruby’s stomach and she tightens her arms around herself.  It would be so easy for something to happen here that would jeopardise Ruby’s future with Regina.  Emma’s words come back to her and she curses herself for not listening.  Some foolish part of her actually must have believed that Regina would see the love in her eyes and would fall into her arms.  She rests her head on her knees.   That’s definitely not going to happen.

“You clearly care about your family a great deal.”  Her voice is softer now, less confrontational. “Which is why I don’t understand your actions.  The Queen had no quarrel with you, she hadn’t even seen you.  And you just stepped up to her and asked to be arrested.  Why would you voluntarily separate yourself from your family?”

“So that I can get back to them,” Ruby whispers to herself.  She wishes she had let Hook pursue Emma.  She wishes she was at Granny’s right now, in a booth with Regina and Henry, arguing over how much junk food Henry is allowed.  She wishes she had just stayed there.

"I'm not sure I caught that?" The other woman sounds hesitant, as if she’s unsure if Ruby wanted to be heard or not.

She closes her eyes and tries to think of a way around what she has said that still remains truthful. "My family," Ruby begins, "I need to find a way back to them. They're lost, and I was trying to find them when I came across you and the Q... the _Evil_ Queen. I need her help getting back to them."

There's a frown that crosses the woman's features that Ruby doesn't miss. "Do you have any idea who you're dealing with? That _witch_ lacks compassion." Softer now, she says, "You're going to comfortably barter with another human being's life to get to your family?"

Ruby retreats further into herself. She needs to constantly remind herself that this Regina, while one in the same, is not the same Regina that's waiting for her back in Storybrooke. She's not sure she's given much thought to her rather shaky plan. "No, that's what she thinks I'm going to do." 

“Then you’re no less dead than I.”

“With any luck, neither of us will have to die,” Ruby says.

“Well, you rely on luck if you wish,” the woman says.  “I’ll make peace with my fate.”

Closing her eyes, Ruby sighs.  Her fate is not to end up dead at the hands of the Evil Queen.  Her fate is to live out her days in Storybrooke, with Regina.  If she can only get back there.

 

* * *

 

It’s difficult to tell time in the dungeon, with the lack of light, so Ruby doesn’t know how long they wait in silence before the door is opened and two burly guards enter, followed by Regina.  Scrabbling to her feet, Ruby approaches the bars.  Barely visible behind her bodyguards, Regina’s scent is unmistakable and Ruby wants more of it.  After a brief visual assessment of the situation, the guards stand to the side to make way for Regina and she approaches Ruby’s prison cell, her eyes sweeping up and down Ruby’s body in a way that makes her almost uncomfortable.  

“So, wolf,” Regina begins, stopping a short distance away from the cell, far enough that Ruby couldn’t reach out and grab her if she tried to, but close enough for her to see her face in detail.  “My guards have informed me that you have information you’re simply _dying_ to share with me.  Out with it.”

Taking her in completely, Ruby becomes more and more aware that this is not the Regina that’s waiting for her back home. And the sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach becomes more apparent. “I know where you can find Snow White.”

Regina lets out a low laugh that sends chills down Ruby’s spine. “My dear, why do I need to search for her when she’s going to come straight to me?”

Ruby frowns at Regina’s words. “What do you mean?” The Queen gives her a smirk, but remains silent as she starts to move away from her cell. “Regina, wait!” She calls out, only to be zapped by purple tendrils of electricity sparking from Regina’s fingers. She’s raised as high as the ceiling will allow, encased in magic that feels like it’s burning her from the inside out, and Ruby struggles for breath.

“Show. Some. Respect.” The Queen grits out, clenching her hand into a fist and bringing her arms back down by her side. Ruby drops to the ground with a hard thud. “Try that again.” A wave of her hand has Ruby on her knees by the bars of her cell.

“Y-Your Majesty,” Ruby pants, “please. You don’t understand.”

“What I understand, wolf, is that you being here has just signed Snow White’s death warrant, and I couldn’t be happier.”

“Yes you can,” Ruby tells her without thinking. “You _are_. Happier than you ever knew possible, and it has nothing to do with the death of Snow White. It… It has to do with me.” And Henry, but Ruby’s not sure she should bring him into the conversation just yet.

"Don't flatter yourself, girl," Regina sneers. "While I'm sure I'll find your death entertaining enough, it will not compare to the joy I feel when that brat is out of my life, once and for all."

“Re-Your Majesty, _please_! You need to listen to me -”

“I will do nothing of the sort!” Regina bellows, and Ruby can see a flash of violet in her otherwise brown eyes. She uses an index finger to pull Ruby against the bars and comes closer to the gates, almost nose to nose. “It is _you_ who will listen to _me_. The word has been spread of your capture. Snow White _will_ come to the castle to rescue you and I _will_ kill her while you watch. Then I will kill _you_ and I will live happily. Ever. After.”

"No, you won't," Ruby presses on, conscious that Regina could incinerate her at any second.  Regina's face hardens and Ruby quickly takes another tack. "I...I saw you looking at my clothes...you know I'm not quite what I seem, don't you? You know I'm not the girl that's always trailing after Snow." She really hopes Regina _can_ tell.

"How you think that your choice of clothes is of the least interest to me is beyond me," Regina says, but Ruby can see there's a hint of uncertainty in her eyes.

"I'm not that girl," Ruby tells her. "I look like her, but I'm not her. I came here from another realm. A realm where you are happy and Snow is very much still alive. In fact, right now, you are with her at a party."

Regina's eyes flash and suddenly there's a vice like grip around her neck. "How dare you attempt to take me for a fool with such a ridiculous tale?"

Ruby claws at her neck, trying to loosen the magic. "Y-you know..." she gasps. "You know about o-other realms." Probably best not to mention that she sent her own mother to one at the stage. "Is it s-so hard to believe?"

"And why would you arrive here, from some other realm with strange clothing, and immediately ask to be thrown in my dungeon? Are you stupid in this other realm?"

“I-I’m in love.”

Regina nods. “Stupid, then.”

“With _you_.” Ruby feels the grip become tighter and her vision starts to blur slightly. She still attempts to claw at her throat.

“That makes you even more stupid.” Regina rolls her eyes and releases her magic hold on Ruby’s neck. She conjures a chair and sits down on it, crossing one leg over the other.  Another wave of her hand and Ruby feels the familiar sensation of being transported by magic.  They arrive in another room, just the two of them.   Ruby assumes it’s somewhere else in the castle.

“Don’t even _think_ about trying anything now that the bars are gone,” Regina tells her.  She wiggles her fingers.  “I’m more than a match for you and you’d do well to remember that.”

Being out of her cell should have her feeling relieved. Instead Ruby’s senses are on high alert, especially after receiving the veiled threat. “I’ve never forgotten,” she tells her. “Why are we here?”

Regina lifts her arms and shoulders in an elaborate shrug.  “I’m in the mood for entertainment,” she says.  “Your story sounds like it could be vaguely amusing for a few minutes, so I thought ‘why not?’.”  She nods.  “So start talking.”

Ruby swallows, suddenly very aware that the future - _their_ future - lies very firmly in her own hands. “What’s the alternative?” She’s met with a raised eyebrow.

“I can kill you now and then watch while Snow White cries over your lifeless body.  And _then_ kill her.” Regina grins. “Your pelt will make an _excellent_ coat.”

“And if you like my tale, what then?” Ruby asks.  “You’ll help me?”

“I’m not sure where you got the idea that your death is only a possibility,” Regina muses.  “You are going to die.  If you entertain me, I may give you a merciful death.”  She raises an eyebrow.  “So tell me your story.”

Ruby wonders exactly how much she can get away with here, but figures the can of worms has already been opened. She can only hope that Emma has found Rumplestiltskin and that they’ve been able to come up with a plan. Otherwise, if Emma’s been captured as well, they can kiss everything they know goodbye. “I said I was in love with you in this other realm. It’s not just one sided. You love me back.” Regina scoffs and rolls her eyes, looking in the opposite direction. “You...have a son,” Ruby tells her quietly, feeling her eyes sting with tears as she realises just how _much_ she misses him. “His name is Henry.” This gets Regina’s attention back and when Ruby feels something around her throat this time, it’s Regina’s hand. 

“Henry,” Regina sneers. “And a daughter named Cora, no doubt?”

“God, no,” Ruby says, her hands on Regina’s wrist.  She could crush the bone under her fingers without any effort.

“Your storytelling leaves a lot to be desired, wolf,” Regina says.  “You jump straight in with no explanations of what realm you’re even talking about, how you got there and how on earth we ended up _in love_.”  She taps her foot and squeezes Ruby’s throat a little harder.  “I’m not feeling very entertained.  And I think you’re lying.” 

Ruby carefully peels Regina’s hand away from her throat, conscious that Regina still has a free hand and can use magic to incinerate her. She keeps her eyes locked on Regina’s. Enchanted Forest or Storybrooke, Ruby can still read her, and Regina is impressed by the display. “If you want the full story, that’s fine,” Ruby tells her, gaining some confidence as she speaks. “Exactly how much time do we have?”

“As much time as I will allow. So make it fast because I’m beginning to lose my patience and I might start to think that your head on a stick would be more entertaining than this fairytale of yours.”

Ruby swallows, unsure of whether telling Regina this part of the story will bring her death a day earlier. “You…never managed to kill Snow White,” she hurries on with the story.  “So you decided to take away her happy ending.  And  you cursed us into the realm I come from with no memories of our lives here.  To a land without magic.”

Regina frowns.  “The dark curse,” she whispers.  Anyone else might have missed it, but Ruby’s ears pick up on the words.  

“We were there for almost thirty years.  We lived in a small town.  You were in charge of it, you were the Mayor.   _Are_ the Mayor.”

“Well, obviously I’d be in charge if I made the place,” Regina agrees.  “And in this land, you’re my consort, are you?”  She tilts her head, appraising Ruby.  “Well, I picked a pretty one, at least.  And Snow White’s friend.”  Her lips curl into a smile at her apparent brilliance.

“No, I wasn’t your _consort_ ,” Ruby corrects.  “For twenty-eight years, I was a waitress in my Granny’s diner.”  Off Regina’s confused expression, she explains.  “It’s like a tavern.  I served drinks and food.”

“You’re boring me,” Regina drawls, glaring at Ruby. “I’m bored.”

“So, before you cursed us to this place, Snow White was pregnant and gave birth as the curse was coming. Prince James sent their child to another realm, in the hope that she would grow up to be the saviour that would end the curse. And she did. Henry found her and brought her back to save us all.”

“Did he now?” Regina asks, still clearly bored. “This… Henry is my son, you say. And why would he do that?  Why would he break my curse?”

“It’s… an even longer, _more_ complicated story.”

“So find an interesting part,” Regina tells her.  “Something that will convince me that you’re not making all of this up on the spot.  Nothing you’ve said sounds like me at all.  You don’t know me.”

“I know you have a birthmark on the back of your right knee,” Ruby says, hurriedly.  “I know you think Snow betrayed you.  I know how you got the scar on your lip.”  She takes a chance and steps closer to Regina, who looks a whole lot less comfortable than she did a moment ago.  “I know how your lips feel against mine.  I know you have the capacity for love...so much love.  I _know_ you, Regina.”

Regina’s face hardens. “In polite society, most people avoid mentioning blemishes on their Queen’s face.”  She lifts her chin.  “Okay, wolf. You think you know me _oh so_ well. Enlighten me. Tell me about my scar.” 

“Your mother hit you, when you were thirteen years old,” Ruby says, without hesitation.  “You had been riding and were late for some dinner she wanted you to attend.  She was furious and she lashed out with your riding crop.  Split your lip.”

Regina is shaking her head, but not because the story isn’t true.  Unconsciously, the Queen’s hand lifts to the mark in question.  Ruby continues.  

“She covered it up with a glamour spell that evening and anytime she wanted to show you off.”  A lump appears in Ruby’s throat as she remembers the night Regina shared this story with her, lying in bed with Regina’s head on Ruby’s chest.  It was dark and Ruby was running her fingers through Regina’s hair.  She hadn’t asked for the story, Regina just started talking.  “As soon as you were able, you prevented her from performing the glamour spell.  You wanted people to see it.  You...you told me that it reminded you how cruel the world is.  All it does is remind me how strong you are.”  She reaches out, her thumb brushing over the mark.

Regina steps away, shaking her head more violently now.  “You can’t know that.  The only person who knows that story is dead.”  Daniel, Ruby thinks.  Regina’s eyes go wide with fury.  “Are you somehow colluding with my mother?”

“No!” Ruby tells her, becoming exasperated.  “I told you exactly where I came from.  I came from a land you cursed us to.  My name is Ruby there.   My name _is_ Ruby.” She searches Regina’s eyes hoping to find some recognition. Hoping to find anything.

“I don’t believe you,” Regina sneers, and Ruby’s heart sinks. “Guards!”

“Regina!” Ruby pleads with wide eyes as two large men enter the chambers to stand either side of Regina. “You have to believe me!”

“Take this storyteller back to _its_ cell.” Regina locks eyes with Ruby and smirks as the guards take Ruby by the arm each. “She is to be executed at sunset.”

“Regina! Please I-”

“Enough of this!” A wave of her hand knocks Ruby unconscious in the guards’ arms as they drag her off into her cell.

 

* * *

Consciousness is slow to return.  She becomes aware that she’s lying on a cold, hard surface.  It doesn’t smell too great and her head really hurts.  She lets out a soft moan as she tries to turn onto her back.

“Oh, good,” a voice says.  “I thought you were dead.”

Forcing her eyes to open, she turns to the source of the voice and manages to lean up on her elbows.  The same woman as before is in the cell next to hers.  Her failed attempt to get Regina to believe her story comes flooding back and tears prick at her eyes.  She’s going to die at sunset.  She’s probably brought forward this other woman’s death too.  She’s never going to see Regina or Henry or Granny or Snow again.  The tears spill over and run freely down her cheeks.

“A-are you alright?”

Ruby just shakes her head, not bothering to wipe her tears or attempt to stop them.

“What happened?” the woman asks.  “You told the Queen you were in love with her.  Why would you do that?”

“Because it’s true,” Ruby says, seeing no point in holding back now.  On the off chance that Regina is listening in, she needs to make sure her story is consistent.   “I’m...I’m not from this realm.  Not really.  Not anymore.  I’m from another place and time...and Re-....the Queen is my whole life.”

“Is she not the Evil Queen where you come from?”

Ruby shakes her head with a laugh, but it sounds more like a sob and more tears fall. “She _was_. But she...she's changed. This was her past. Henry helped build her future.  And I'm part of that.” Ruby watches the other woman’s face contort through a series of emotions before it seems to finally settle on confusion.

“So despite knowing all of this…” she begins slowly, “You still… _love_ the Evil Queen? She-”

“I know what she’s done!” Ruby yells, sick of people questioning her feelings and her choices as if she’s a schoolgirl with a crush.  “All of it. I _lived_ through it. She pursued my _best friend_ and _anyone_ who got in her path, including me… But Snow White is _alive_ -”

“Am I alive?” the woman asks in a soft voice.

The question stops Ruby’s rant short.  Today is the first time she’s set eyes on the other woman.  She may not be intimately acquainted with everyone in Storybrooke, but her job at the diner means she at least knows the vast majority of the town by sight.  This woman isn’t in Storybrooke.  But that doesn’t necessarily mean she’s dead.  Since the breaking of the first curse, they’ve discovered lots of loopholes that allowed people to remain in the Enchanted Forest.  

“I’m not,” the woman decides, taking Ruby’s silence for confirmation.  She nods, pressing her lips together.  “That’s...that’s okay.  My family will be, and that’s what’s important.”

Ruby pushes herself to her feet and approaches the bars of her cell, swiping a sleeve across her face.  It seems insensitive to try to extol the virtues of someone’s murderer.  The word makes her chest tighten, but she knows it’s true.

“I’m sorry,”  Ruby says, quietly.

“No. Don’t be,” the woman practically scoffs. “I already told you I’ve made peace with my fate. You? You’re just one of the lucky ones.”

“I was,” Ruby corrects her, tears welling in her eyes again. “My execution has been moved to a few hours from now. After tonight, I won’t exist.”

“She doesn’t believe your story, then?” The woman raises her eyebrows.  “It is rather far-fetched.”

Ruby nods.  “Yeah, a little bit,” she agrees.  “I...I guess I expected her to see me and...I don’t know.  Feel something?”

“Whoever she is in your world is clearly a different person,” the woman says.  “Here, she doesn’t _feel_ anything.”

Before Ruby can argue, a swirl of purple smoke envelopes her, and when it clears, she’s back in the same room as before with Regina.  Her heart speeds up.  This has to be a good sign.  Otherwise she’d have been left in the cell until her execution.  A quick glance at Regina’s face tells her the queen is angry, and confused.  She remains quiet. 

“What is the purpose of these stories you tell?” Regina finally asks, after a long period of silence.  “Why are you saying these things about me?  To a woman I’m about to execute, no less?  It seems to me you wish to add to her suffering, which I am not opposed to, but seems unlike one of Snow White’s disciples.”

“I’m not trying to make things worse for her,” Ruby protests.  “But I can’t let people believe this is you.  I know you and I know what you’ve done.  But that’s not all of you.”

“This fantasy world you’ve constructed in your head-” Regina spits, stepping closer to Ruby, “-is _ridiculous_.”

“I didn’t construct it,” Ruby says, calmly.  “You did.”

“I would not create a world where I attend parties with Snow White and take her friends to my bed,” Regina says, her lip curling in distaste.

“Not just your bed.”  Ruby figures she has nothing to lose now.   She’s going to die at sunset.  “Your _heart_.”  

Regina shakes her head.  “That shows how little you know me, wolf.”  She meets Ruby’s eyes.  “I don’t have one.”

Ruby holds her gaze, unwavering.  “Yes, you do.  I’ve held it in my hand.  I’ve placed it in your chest.  Just as you have with mine.”  Zelena had taken Ruby’s heart to force Regina to hand her own over.  But adding a long-lost sister to the equation is unlikely to help right now.

Regina raises an eyebrow and a smile spreads over her lips that Ruby hasn’t seen in a long time. “Like this?” She sneers, thrusting her own hand into Ruby’s chest, only to pull it back out again holding Ruby’s heart.

Ruby gasps, a hand flying to her chest.  It’s not the first time this has happened, but it doesn’t make it any less painful.  She gets a handle on the pain, pushing it down, and meets Regina’s eyes again, breathing heavily.  “Kinda,” she says.

The queen is turning the heart from side to side, examining it.  Ruby’s happy to note that it’s still vibrant and red.  “I could crush this right now,” Regina tells her.  “Save wasting an arrow on you later tonight.”

Swallowing, and still trying to adjust to the hollow feeling in her chest, Ruby manages a shrug.  “It belongs to you,” she says, her voice as strong as she can make it.  The queen’s eyes flick to meet her own.  “So you can do whatever you like with it.”

Regina’s hand clenches around Ruby’s heart and she watches with a smile as Ruby’s body starts to crumble from beneath her. Her hand flies to her chest and she scratches at the pain, gasping. “Do it,” she grits out, and the pain in her chest becomes even more unbearable.  She holds Regina’s eyes as she falls to her knees.  For a second she thinks she sees a flicker of uncertainty in the other woman’s eyes.  All at once, the pain lessens and Ruby gasps for air. When she’s able to get her breathing back to normal, Ruby looks up at Regina, confused by the sudden turn around. “What are you doing?” Ruby asks. “Crush it!” 

“In this... _delusion_ of yours,” Regina says, ignoring Ruby’s instruction.  “Why do you love me?”

Despite the situation, Ruby allows herself a small smile as she thinks of all the reasons she loves Regina. Her smile. Her laugh. The face she pulls right when she’s about to sneeze. How passionate she can be. The love she has for Henry. That she can love at all is another huge reason. “Because you let me in.” is what Ruby decides on. “You showed me who you were, demons and all, when you were scared to show _anyone_ else.  And what I saw was a smart, beautiful, funny, _loving_ woman.” She swallows past the lump in her throat as she thinks about their road; it wasn’t the smoothest. “And no matter how many obstacles got in our way, we stayed together. I stayed with you, because I loved you.” Ruby shakes her head realising she’s speaking in past tense and corrects herself. “ _Love_ you.”

It’s slight, but there’s a waver in Regina’s eyes and on her mouth.  But they both harden once more and the pain in Ruby’s chest increases briefly as her heart is squeezed again.  Regina leans down, her nose just inches from Ruby’s.  

“This _love_ you feel?  Look where it’s gotten you,” she spits.  “On your knees, heart exposed...weak and pathetic.”  She shakes her head.  “You are a _wolf_.  A fearsome warrior who has evaded me and aided Snow White for _months_.  And yet, today, you handed yourself over to me without a thought.”  She shakes her head.  “You will die tonight.   _That_ is what love gets you.”  

“If that’s what’s going to happen, so be it,” Ruby gasps.  “I wouldn’t change the time I’ve had with you for the world.  Every second is worth dying for.”

Regina turns away with a barely suppressed screech of rage, stalking to the far end of the room.  She stands in front of the fire, looking into a mirror.  Ruby can just about make out her features.

“Do you think you’re helping yourself by continuing this ridiculous charade?” Regina asks, finally.  “Do you think I’m suddenly going to fall into your arms and run away with you to some cabin in the woods where we can live out our lives as idiotic lovers?”

“We don’t need a cabin, we have a house,” Ruby says, pushing to her feet once again, tentatively.  “All you have to do to let this happen is help me get back there.  And you’ll see.  You’ll get what you’ve always wanted.”

Regina turns around. “But I don’t,” she says. “You’ve already informed me that Snow White still breathes.”

“That’s not what you’ve always wanted,” Ruby says, shaking her head, gaining more confidence as Regina engages in the conversation.  “Not really.  You want what you believe she cost you.”  She takes a deep breath.  “You want what your mother ripped away from you.  You want love.”

Regina shakes her head with a glare. “Love is weakness.”

“No, it’s strength,” Ruby argues and then allows herself a small smirk. “You’ll hear that a few more times in your life, believe me.” She shakes her head and sobers. “You’ve never had a chance to believe otherwise because you’ve seen what the cost of love is. You shut off because it’s easier, because it’s something _you’re_ in control of for once in your life.”

This must not be something Regina wants to hear as her eyes flash violet and a scowl crosses her features. She raises up Ruby’s heart. “I’m in control of _this_.”

Ruby shakes her head again. “It won’t end up being me who suffers. If I die now, you cut your own happiness short.” Without warning, visions of Regina crumpling at the news of Ruby’s death assault her mind’s eye and the guilt comes in waves as she realises just how ridiculous this whole plan is. _Ruby_ is essentially taking away Regina’s happiness, and her eyes burn with tears at the thought.

“That’s assuming I believe this ridiculous tale of yours.”

“Why else were you listening in?” Ruby counters, taking a gamble. “Why wouldn’t you have just killed me on the spot for even insinuating this? Why transport me from my cell to your chambers to hear more about it?”

The vein in Regina’s forehead is prominent now, her jaw set and tension is rolling off her.  But it’s not anger, it’s something else.  Or several things, Ruby realises.  Regina is conflicted.

“I don’t know,” Regina grinds out, finally.  “I should have left you in that cell.  Or killed you in that village.”

“If I die here, it might change everything,” Ruby pushes.  “Snow will be really pissed.   Maybe she’ll actually kill you.”

Regina laughs at that and looks at Ruby in a state of disbelief. “Snow White wouldn’t have the gall. She’ll huff and she’ll puff and I’ll remain standing.” Ruby watches as Regina’s face twists into a malicious grin. “And as she weeps over you, that’s when I will strike.”

“No, you can’t. You’re not getting it.” Ruby feels her own frustrations boil over the edge at Regina’s lack of understanding. All she cares about in this point in time is killing Snow White. And with Ruby’s intrusion, she might actually succeed. “If you kill her, you will screw up everyone’s future -”

“I don’t care about anyone else’s future but my own.”

“Everyone including you. _Your_ happy ending. Regina, I’m telling you that you need to play this out or there is no future for _us_.”

Regina appears to think about this, and Ruby lets her guard down for only a second before she hears an indignant “No. _My_ happy ending involves dancing on Snow White’s grave.” She grins. “And I’ll do it with a song in my heart.”

“You think that now, but it’s not true,” Ruby says, getting desperate as she feels her hope fading.  “You will dance, though, in the future.  With me.  With no shoes on in our backyard while it’s raining.  And in the living room.  And I’ll sing to you and you’ll tell me I’m a terrible singer.  And Henry will walk in on us and roll his eyes and you’ll laugh at him.  And you will be happy, Regina.  I promise you.”

“Your promise is worth nothing to me,” Regina says, but her voice is losing is cruel edge.  “You have no proof of any of this.  You could have used magic to find out things about me.  This could all be Snow White’s doing for all I know.”

Ruby sighs and rubs her hands over her face, suppressing a growl. “Surely, with all your magic… all your _power_ … you can come up with _some_ way to see that I’m not batshit insane.”

Nose wrinkling in distaste, Regina frowns.  “You’re not doing your case any favours, dear,” Regina says.  “I’m relatively certain I would not associate with someone who uses such vulgarities.”

“You get used to it,” Ruby assures her with a roll of her eyes. “I like to think you find it endearing.”

“I’m sure.” Regina drums her fingers on the sill of her window looking at Ruby in a way that makes the other woman feel exposed, but Ruby remains silent. “There is a way,” Regina decides.

“A way to what?” Ruby asks, taking a step closer, then stopping.  It probably isn’t a great idea to get overly familiar right now.

Turning around fully, Regina appraises her for a long moment.  “To prove you’re lying,” she says, and Ruby’s stomach drops.  She swallows, but keeps her chin high.

“Which is?”

“I have...access to someone who will be able to tell if your words are true or not.”  Regina raises an eyebrow.  “Think your story will stand up to that kind of scrutiny?”

“Yes!” Ruby says, immediately, although there’s a niggle at the back of her mind that says there’s all sorts of things between now and then that might throw someone off.  But surely they’ll know where Ruby came from, at least.  “Yes, absolutely.  Bring it on.”

Her enthusiastic response appears to have surprised Regina, causing her mask to drop briefly, and Ruby sees hints of the Regina she sees first thing in the morning, a little confused and absolutely unguarded.

“Very well,” Regina agrees. “But the stakes are raised.  If you are lying, you die immediately.”  She holds Ruby’s gaze, as if she’s looking for fear or uncertainty there.

“That sounds fair,” Ruby tells her.  Fair for the Evil Queen, at least, she adds to herself.  “Are we doing it now?”

“I’ve never seen someone so keen to get to their own execution,” Regina comments, but she lifts her hands and transports them both to another part of the castle.  It smells like it’s deep underground.  It smells...like death.  Ruby covers her nose instinctively.  Regina, she notices, doesn’t even flinch.  The corridor they’ve arrived in is lit only by torchlight, and it makes Regina’s eyes warmer, more inviting.  It makes Ruby miss her even more.

“Come,” Regina beckons, moving further down the narrow hallway.  They turn a corner and encounter two guards standing outside a heavily fortified door.  Regina nods at them and one of them unlocks it.  Regina steps inside.  Ruby inhales through her mouth and follows.

“God, how do you stand it?” Ruby murmurs wrinkling her nose as the smell still manages to seep through.

“The smell of death?” Regina asks. She doesn’t turn around but Ruby can hear the grin coming through in her words. “When you’ve killed as many people as I have, dear, it just becomes the air you breathe.”

A chill travels down Ruby’s spine as they come to a stop at a prison cell. It’s empty, but there’s a large stone door embedded in the back wall. It’s been a long time since Regina has boasted about those she’s murdered and it turns Ruby’s blood cold. She closes her eyes to centre herself as she fights down a wave of nausea. When she opens them again, Regina is staring at her amused.

“I’m surprised you can’t relate. I know all about the blood _you’ve_ shed in your life, _wolf_.”

Bile burns the back of her throat as she remembers exactly how it feels to sink her teeth into a human being and feel the life drain out of them.  She swallows and licks her lips.  “I’ve accepted what I’ve done, Regina.  I’m at a place in my life where I know who I am.”  She lifts her chin.  “I like who I am now.  And you like who I am now.”

Regina rolls her eyes.  “And here I thought we must’ve bonded about being murderesses.  My mistake.” She waves a hand in front of the cell and the stone door slowly slides open. The cell remains empty and Regina turns to Ruby. She throws her heart into the air and catches it with ease. Ruby remains unwavering as she stares Regina down. “Just remember...”

“Wait!” Ruby lets out, suddenly. “We’ve established what happens if it turns out I’m lying… What happens when it turns out I’m telling the truth?” 

Sneering, Regina leans in close, and god does it take everything in Ruby not to grab her by the shoulders and kiss her hard. “That won’t be an option.” She conjures an arrow into her hand and uses the silvered tip to trace an outline of Ruby’s face before turning back to the empty cell. “Confessor!”

Ruby looks around the room; she hadn’t been aware of another presence.  The wall at the far side disintegrates and reveals a far more comfortable looking living arrangement than the one Ruby was afforded earlier.  A young woman stands up, dressed in immaculate white robes, and approaches the pair of them.  She has long blonde hair, and pale, flawless skin.  

“You can call me by my name, you know,” the woman says, seemingly happy to speak quite candidly to Regina.  A frisson of jealousy shoots through Ruby as she wonders if they have a closer relationship that Regina is letting on.

“I have no desire nor need to learn your name,” Regina spits.  “Just do what I keep you here to do.”  She throws an arm out in Ruby’s direction.  “This _woman_ claims that she and I have...a...relationship-”

“We’re in _love_ ,” Ruby cuts in, raising an eyebrow at the woman.

Regina frowns at the interruption, but keeps going.  “-at some undetermined point in the future, and in another realm.  Clearly she’s lying, but… but-”

Ruby watches Regina’s face as she tries to come up with a reason she’s even bothering to check.  If she really didn’t believe Ruby, she’d just have killed her. 

“But she wants to confirm so that she can feel justified in killing me,” Ruby says, giving her an out.  Both Regina and the Confessor give her strange looks.  She shrugs.  “I know I’m not lying, so I’m not worried.”

The Confessor shrugs her shoulders, raking her eyes down Ruby’s body and back up again. It makes Ruby feel cheap. “I’m surprised you’re fighting this, Your Majesty,” she says.  “You wouldn’t normally be opposed to taking such a pretty thing to your bed.”

Again, jealousy rears its head and Ruby can feel a growl rumbling in her chest.

“Just do it, before I kill _you_ ,” Regina threatens.

The Confessor rolls her eyes and Ruby thinks she’s got guts to do that to Regina. But when those blue eyes turn on her, Ruby realises she’s using her power to do Regina’s bidding and check Ruby’s story.  It feels like the woman is looking directly into her soul, and Ruby has to resist the urge to look away from the intensity in her eyes. But she knows she needs to let this happen to make Regina believe her.

After a moment, the Confessor closes her eyes, breaking the connection with Ruby.  When she opens them again, she holds Ruby’s gaze briefly before turning to Regina.

"She speaks the truth.”  
  
Ruby can’t help the wide smile that appears on her lips, though it fades at the Confessor’s next words.  “But...I sense change.  As if the strands of history are unravelling and reweaving because of your knowledge of these events. You must forget what you have heard if you wish it to come true.”

Ruby waits for the relief to flood through her body, but her stomach churns as she thinks about what might have changed back home already, and what she will come back to. _If_ she gets back home. She chances a glance at Regina who looks confused and angry, like somehow the Confessor is in on a sick game that she knows nothing about. Ruby swallows, flicking her eyes to Regina who still holds her heart.

“Show me,” Regina demands.

The Confessor frowns. “You know very well that’s not how my power works I can’t show you. I can only tell you what is true and what is not. And this woman is telling the truth.  You have a future together.”

Ruby looks back to Regina, still hoping to see recognition in her eyes, and still hurting when there’s nothing there. She raises her head and squares her shoulders watching as Regina waves a hand in front of the cell and the Confessor disappears back into her living quarters.

“You will return to your cell,” Regina says low in her throat. “Now.”

Frowning, Ruby takes a step closer. “Did you hear what she said?”  She dips her head to try to catch Regina’s eyes.  “You have to forget.”

“If I want that future to come true,” Regina finishes the sentence, lifting her head to meet Ruby’s gaze.  “I never said I did.”

Ruby’s stomach turns to ice, and she forgets all propriety, moving closer still and grasping Regina’s arms.  “You do.  You _must_ ,” she implores.  “Otherwise why go to all this trouble to see if it was true?”  A blast of magic sends Ruby flying across the room, skidding into the wall.

“Do _not_ touch me,” Regina spits, stalking closer to tower over Ruby’s prone body.  “And do not question me or dare to tell me what I _must_ or _must not_ want.”

Ruby coughs, winded by the blast, but pushes herself into a seated position, looking up at Regina.

“You asked her to let you see the future,” she says, her voice rough, but strong.  “I can’t show you, but I can tell you about it.” Ruby takes Regina’s silence as permission to continue and tries to ignore the conflict in her eyes. She stands up and approaches her again, coming to a stop just in front of Regina, knowing full well she might be opening herself up to further strikes. “It’s… everything you never knew you wanted, and so much more. It isn’t perfect, but it’s our life and I wouldn’t change a _second_ of it; not our pasts and not how we met because it wouldn’t be the same. I love _you_ Regina. All of you. Your past, your present and your future.” She swallows and points to her heart in Regina’s hand. “You could have crushed it at any opportunity… Part of you wants this, I know it does.”

Regina’s eyes turn hard and she tightens her hold on the organ, causing Ruby to gasp in pain and clutch at her chest. She stares up at Regina, her eyes watering but the tears still at bay.  Staring into the eyes of the so-called Evil Queen, Ruby isn’t afraid.  She can’t help but believe that Regina will do what needs to be done.  If that means she dies right now, then so be it.  

Regina holds the heart up, eyeing it closely.

“I’m...happy?  In this future you speak of.”  Her voice is quieter than it’s been since Ruby arrived here.  She sounds more like Regina than the Queen.  Ruby moves closer, still careful to keep a little distance between them.

“Very happy,” she confirms.  “Stupidly, sickeningly happy.” She watches as Regina takes this information in. Her face seems to go through a range of emotions before finally setting on what seems to be anger, and Ruby feels her stomach drop. “Regina -” Hard eyes turn on her.

“It’s _Your Majesty_ ,” she snaps. “Now, we both have places to be.  I have a ball to attend.  And you have a cell to return to.”

“I… no,” Ruby says softly, unable to push down the hurt she feels at Regina’s rejection. “I mean… I… I need to know how to get back home. Back to you.”

A cruel smile twists Regina’s face almost beyond Ruby’s recognition.  “How touching that you believe that future still exists.”

“Then kill me now, because it will hurt a lot less than seeing nothing in your eyes.” In the same way that Regina has been staring at her here.

“But, my dear, why on earth would you believe that I would wish to lessen your suffering?” Regina asks.  “Don’t you realise that I _want_ Snow White and anyone associated with her to feel pain?”

Ruby swallows thickly. “Then do what you have to. As will I. Because even if things have changed back home, I will spend every day of my life still loving you and making damn sure you know that,” she vows.

“Then you’re more of a fool than I thought,” Regina decides.  “But I shall let you live.  Because sending you back to a different future seems a fitting punishment for such idiotic weakness.  Perhaps it will teach you to be more careful in choosing who you give your heart to.”  Her smile grows.  “And I shall keep hold of _this_ -” She squeezes Ruby’s heart for emphasis.  “Just to make sure you never feel _love_ in all of its sickening glory again.”

Ruby feels the familiar sensation of Regina’s magic envelop her and can feel herself being transported before she can respond to Regina’s threat. She lands with a hard thud back in her cell.  Her hand flies to her chest, the hollow feeling intensifying now that she’s physically distanced from her heart.  Reality starts to seep in as she realises that she may possibly have altered her own future beyond recognition.   _And_ she’s lost her heart.  Bile rises in her throat and she scrambles to the bucket in the corner of the cell and vomits.

“I’m assuming it didn’t go well?”

She leans her back against the stone wall and slides down it, bringing her knees to her chest and hugging them in a gesture of self comfort. Trying not to be sick again, Ruby shakes her head ‘no’ with tears streaming down her cheeks.

“So, what happened?”

“She took my heart,” Ruby whispers, trying to keep the nausea down.  
  
“And yet you still live?” her cellmate asks, disbelief clear in her tone. 

Ruby draws in a shaky breath trying to picture her life without Regina. Without her _heart._ “I’m not living if I’m not with her.”

“Well, I don’t suppose that’ll be a problem for much longer,” the woman says.  “Aren’t you to die at sunset?”

“I don’t even know anymore,” Ruby says, thinking back to Regina’s words.  Is she still scheduled to die? Regina said something about returning to a _different_ future and living with the consequences.  But now she’s back in this cell with no way to get home or to find Emma.

“I know you seem to think you know the Evil Queen, but I really wouldn’t hold out much hope for her to be merciful.  If I were you, I’d prepare for the worst.  And then you will see your family again one day.  In the afterlife.”

Ruby looks up, glaring at her counterpart, her frustrations coming to the surface. "I refuse to believe that this is how it ends. And I don't understand how you can be so okay with the thought of dying and never seeing your family again."

"I don't have a choice!" The other woman yells at Ruby. "My future... My _fate_ has been decided. As has yours."

“We make our own fate in this life,” Ruby growls, standing up and approaching the bars.  “And I will _not_ accept that this is mine.  I _will_ get back to my home and I _will_ be with Regina again.”

“You sound like you actually believe that,” the woman says, looking almost impressed.

“I have to,” Ruby whispers, her hand once again going to her empty chest.

 

* * *

 

Ruby has moved back to the corner of her cell, head resting against the stone wall in a light sleep when she hears it. 

“Get your hands off me!” It’s Emma. Ruby shakes her head - clearly her time in here has made her delirious, and she’s now imagining things. But then she hears her voice again. “I can walk on my own without your help.” Then she hears Regina’s voice.

“Throw her in with the wolf.” When she comes into view, there’s a mocking smile on her face. “Perhaps the blonde will help you get over me. I know she’s not in my league, but you don’t appear too fussy.”

Ruby swallows and keeps her mouth closed, unwilling to let on that she and Emma know each other. It seems Emma has had a change of clothes and there are some things she needs to catch Ruby up on. Like how in the hell she got captured by Regina.

The gate opens, and Ruby thinks about running. But it’s only a fleeting thought, because she can’t possibly leave Emma behind. She sighs, watching as Emma is thrown into the cell. She lands face first in the dirt and Ruby scrambles to help her up, pulling Emma into her side.

Regina chuckles. “Oh look,” she directs to her guards. “Love is in the air already. It’s a shame neither of them will live long enough to see it blossom.”

Ruby steps away from Emma at that and approaches the bars. "I thought you were going to let me live..."

"I am," Regina replies. "For now. At the moment, you are useful to me.  And I’m very taken with the thought of you finding your way back to a drastically different future.  But remember, little wolf, that I can crush your heart to dust at any moment.  So behave yourself." Ruby's face falls and Regina cackles, leaving the dungeons with her guards trailing behind her.

When Ruby turns around, she sees Emma's face is in her hands. "What does she mean by that?" The blonde asks. "Does she have your heart?" Ruby remains silent and Emma stomps her foot and points at the stairs Regina walked up. "This is why we can't have nice things, damn it! Now, not only do we need to figure out a way to escape to help my parents get together, we need to find your heart!" 

"Wait," Ruby says, frowning. "Go back. We have to do what now?"

Emma opens her mouth to respond, but a new voice enters the conversation. "Do... You two know each other?" It's her cell mate. Ruby had forgotten she and Emma weren't alone.

“We’re from the same time,” Ruby explains. “We’re friends.”

“Ruby…” Emma warns. “Be careful how much you divulge here.”

“I believe it may be a little too late for that piece of advice,” Ruby’s cellmate counters.

Emma fixes Ruby with a glare. “You were supposed to stay out of trouble.”

“As were you,” Ruby says with a raised brow. “So what happened?” As an afterthought, she adds, “And we really don’t have time for the full length feature… so gimme the preview.”

Ruby reads Emma's face easily, and she realises that this is possibly on par with Regina having her heart. "I kinda interrupted my parents first meeting..."

"Oh, is that all?" Ruby asks sarcastically.

"You gave the Evil Queen your heart,” Emma deadpans. “Again.”

“I didn’t _give_ it to her,” Ruby argues.  “She _took_ it.”  She sighs in frustration. “Look,  we’re gonna die in here anyways, so it’s not important.”

“No we’re not.” Ruby looks up to find Emma’s eyes shining and a small grin on her face. She thinks now is not a great time to be channelling her mother when life as they both know it could be changed forever. She lets Emma have her moment though, flinching as the blonde comes towards her with an outstretched hand. She moves back a step, bringing a hand up to stop Emma’s, eyeing her strangely. “Your hair pin,” Emma explains. She nods her head to the lock on the gate.

Ruby raises an eyebrow in disbelief. “Seriously? Pretty sure that only works on TV, Emma.” And with Emma’s past, Ruby thought she of all people would know that.

“I don’t know what that is, but even I’m a little bit skeptical,” Ruby’s cell mate adds.

“Well, thankfully for me,” Emma begins, taking the pin from Ruby’s hair, “I don’t need you two to believe. ‘Cause I do.” She gets down on her knees, straightening out the hair pin and starts to fiddle with the lock. “It’s all… about…” _Click._ “-the tumblers.” She turns a triumphant smile on both women. 

“You did it!” the nameless woman whispers.

Though Ruby can’t believe it, she’s not going to turn down the opportunity. She steps outside of the cell, waiting for some kind of magic to propel her back in. Nothing happens, and she grins widely.

“What are you waiting for? Go!” the woman tells hurriedly. “Get out of here. Go!”

Ruby looks between Emma and her cellmate.  While she knows that Regina had many victims in her old life, and she can’t save them all, she _can_ save Regina from having _this_ woman’s blood on her hands.

Emma sighs.  “Don’t use the puppy eyes on me, Rubes,” she whines.  “Just...get her out.”

Grinning, Ruby moves to the bars of the woman’s cell. Clenching her fists around the bars, she tugs lightly and they bend easily under Ruby’s strength; they’re not enchanted like her own were.  Using her full strength, the bars bend as if they’re made of rubber, leaving a gap wide enough for the woman to get through.

“C’mon,” Ruby urges her.  “We have to be quick.”

The woman takes Ruby’s offered hand and steps through the bars, eyes wide. “You’re… very strong.”

Ruby nods. “Comes with the beast. Let’s _go_.” 

“Where?”

“Up the stairs is a good start,” Emma says, leading the way.

“Wait!” Ruby lets out. She turns her head up and sniffs the air. There’s a familiar smell, but it doesn’t bring her comfort. It makes her stomach churn. “Snow...” She closes her eyes and sniffs again, wanting to be sure.

“What about her?” Emma asks.

“She’s in the castle.” This means Regina made good on her threats… and that Snow _believed_ them. Ruby barrels up the stairs, following her nose with Emma and the other woman as close behind her as their legs can carry them. She knows the castle well from her time spent here when they landed in the Enchanted Forest the last time. While she wants to run in to be by her best friend’s side, she knows that barging into the middle of whatever is happening will cause them all to die on sight. When Snow White’s scent becomes stronger, Ruby opts to lead the trio to an alcove to watch from. What she’s not ready for is to see her best friend tied to a stake with a fireball in Regina’s hand at the ready. “No,” she whispers. She hears footsteps clamber up behind her, and then Emma’s voice.

“Ruby, what is it? Did you find her?”

The wolf opens and closes her mouth a few times before she reaches out to hold her hand. “Em…” She nods her head down to the scene below them.

“Mom,” Emma breathes. Her eyes turn wild and she lunges forward, only to be met with Ruby’s body. “Mom!” she screams. She fights against Ruby’s grip, but it only becomes stronger.

Swallowing, Ruby takes a look below them.  She’s fast, but she’s not faster than magic.  If she breaks through the window, Regina will let loose with the fireball _and_ she’ll have given away their position.  But if Snow White dies, there _is_ no future. “Stay. Here.” She lets go of Emma, walking backwards. “Do not move and _stay_ hidden.” She barely registers her name being spoken as she steps back a few paces.  Before she can move to propel herself through the glass, an explosion illuminates the window.  Ignoring Ruby’s words, Emma darts forwards, pressing herself against the glass.

“No!”

The word is screamed with such pain that it sharpens the ache in Ruby’s hollow chest.  She joins Emma at the window, pulling her into her arms again, turning her face so that it’s pressed against Ruby’s shoulder, hidden away from the awful sight of the fire that’s consuming her mother.  Tears are streaming down Ruby’s face, but she can’t bring herself to look away.  She caused this to happen.  She’s changed everything.  She’s _ruined_ everything.  
  
A howl goes up from another location in the castle and the hair on the back of Ruby’s neck stands up.  Before she can figure out why it sounds familiar, Regina turns around and looks up, catching Ruby’s eye.   Her smile grows, dripping evil.  
  
She speaks, anyone else would be unable to hear the words from this distance, but Ruby hears them just fine.

“Let’s see you get your happy ending now, wolf.”   
  
A sob escapes Ruby’s mouth, and she turns her head into Emma’s hair, unable to face what she’s done any longer.

 

* * *

 

If she hadn’t followed Emma into the portal. If she hadn’t wanted to save this mystery woman’s life. If she hadn’t given herself over so freely to the Evil Queen. If she hadn’t been stupid enough to think that she could convince her of their life together. If she hadn’t helped sign Snow White’s death warrant.

Ruby stares into the campfire they’ve made, knees drawn up to her chest, hugging them, tears in her eyes and stains on her cheeks. Emma sits next to her, sobbing still, and guilt and devastation vie for dominance within her.

“I’m… truly sorry for your loss.”

The words pull Ruby out of her musings and she looks up at her cellmate through blurred vision. She doesn’t trust herself to speak, so she nods her gratitude to the woman and takes Emma back into her arms.

“What do we do now?” Emma’s question is muffled. Soon after, she feels the blonde move out of her arms, and Ruby has to force herself to look into those broken blue eyes. “What happens now? How do we get back home?”

Ruby shakes her head, at a loss. Home doesn’t exist anymore. She blinks. _Exist._ “Emma… you’re still here.”

“Yeah, so?”

“You shouldn’t be!” Ruby tells her, wincing when she realises how that sounds. “If Snow White is dead, you should have faded from existence. You’re still here.”

Emma shakes her head, wiping the tears still on her cheeks. “No. We saw her die.” Her eyes glisten with tears as Ruby realises that Emma is reliving the entire ordeal all over again. “She’s…she’s dead, Ruby.”

“I’m telling you, you would not be here if she was dead.” She watches the cogs tick over in the blonde’s brain as she tries to process this information. Emma’s face twists into many different emotions before finally setting on recognition.

“In the book of fairy tales… the pages started turning blank after I interrupted my parents’ meeting.” She brings her hands in front of her face, staring hard at them.   “Why didn’t I disappear then?”

Ruby frowns, her mind racing through possibilities.  “I guess...because there was still the _potential_ for your parents to meet?  Even if they hadn’t met yet, there was still a chance?” she says.  “But if Snow were dead, then there’s _no way_ for you to be born.  So she can’t be dead.”

Emma’s eyes appear to come back to life, ignited by hope.  “If Snow is alive… and she’s out there somewhere… then we have to find her.”

“Come on,” Ruby urges, moving to put the fire out.

“Far be it from me to play Devil’s advocate,” the silent woman begins, “But how do you propose we find her?”

“I have a pretty keen sense of smell,” Ruby explains. “And I’ve spent a lot of time in these woods.  I know them better than the back of my hand. I just need to pick up on a trail.”

“Pretty big area to cover, Ruby,” Emma says, though hope is still evident on her face.  “How good’s your nose?”

“Good enough,” Ruby says, standing and lifting her face, sniffing the air.  A familiar scent hits her immediately and she frowns.  Emma spots the change of expression.  
  
“What is it?” she asks.  “You found her already?”  
  
“I...I don’t…”  Ruby tries to get the scent back, but it’s very faint and another one is more prevalent.  “I smell your father.”  She closes her eyes and listens.  “He’s nearby...by himself.”  She frowns again.  There’s definitely a hint of Snow in the air, but not strong enough for her actually to be there.  

“Follow your nose,” Emma instructs.

Ruby looks a little torn. “Your father can’t see you. It’ll mess up your timeline.”

“I’m under a spell. I don’t look like me to anyone who doesn't know me,” Emma explains with a shake of her head. “Courtesy of Mr. Gold… Rumplestiltskin. What about you?”

“I can wing it. C’mon.” She leads the small group through the forest, nose upturned, following David’s scent. He’s close, but she doesn’t have a visual on him yet.

“Show yourself.”

The voice startles Ruby and she chastises herself for being caught off guard, especially when she shouldn’t be. She steps out, allowing herself to be seen and when she does, David lowers his sword.

“Red.” So they know each other at this point, Ruby figures.  He shifts his gaze to Emma. “Princess Leia.” Ruby bites her lip and resists the urge to tease Emma about her choice of undercover name. Confusion crosses the Prince’s features as his eyes land on Ruby’s cell mate. “And…?”

“And an ally,” the woman fills in, smiling at Ruby, who smiles back.

“Okay, _ally_ …” David glances back at Ruby. “Red… your clothes…”  
  
Ruby looks down at her attire.  The howl she heard back at Regina’s castle comes to mind and she has to assume that her past self has been with David recently.    
  
“I...changed,” Ruby says.  
  
“But...don’t you need your cloak to keep from morphing into the beast?” David asks, his brow creased in confusion.  “Isn’t that what you said?”  
  
Damn.  “I...uh...I only need it early in the evening.  As the night progresses, I’m more able to control my transformation,” she explains, lamely.    
  
He looks as if he may ask further questions, but only nods.  Ruby thanks her lucky stars that David has never been terribly bright.  His face takes on a pained expression.  “I assume you’ve filled Princess Leia in on our doomed attempt to free her and...and what happened afterwards.”  
  
So David and herself were at the castle to rescue Emma.  She files the information away in case she needs it.  “Yes.  I appraised...Princess Leia, of the situation.  She was much saddened by Snow’s fate, but we have since come to the conclusion that Snow is still alive bec-”  
  
Emma grasps her arm tightly, stopping her from continuing.  “Uh...because Red can smell her.”  
  
Ruby nods.  She had been about to explain that Emma couldn’t exist if Snow was dead, but that would have confused matters beyond repair.  “Yes, I can smell her.”  A small insect buzzes by her ear and she swats at it, missing by quite a margin.

“We saw her go up in flames,” David says, shaking his head.  “There’s no way she could have survived.”  He flicks his head as the insect approaches his face.  “Infernal thing has been following me.”  He swats at it with his hand and it flies away.  
  
Sniffing the air, Ruby frowns.  “I...I can definitely smell her.”  
  
Emma is watching as the insect flutters between Ruby and David, before coming to land on her shoulder.  “Uh...guys...I think the bug is trying to tell us something.”  
  
“The bug?” Ruby asks, squinting at her friend.  “Really EmmmmLeia?”  
  
The insect in question has become quite agitated since Emma’s declaration, buzzing closer to the blonde’s ear, emitting high-pitched noises.  Emma looks at Ruby and shrugs.    
  
“I...think?”  
  
“Wait a second…” David puts in, stepping closer to Emma.  “When Snow and I were coming to rescue you, she told me what her dust would do to the Queen.  It wouldn’t kill her...rather it would turn her into a form that could easily be squashed.”  He gently lifts the bug from Emma’s shoulder.  “A bug!”  
  
Ruby leans closer to the tiny thing, sniffing.  A smile grows on her face and she nods.  “That’s Snow, alright.”  
  
A pair of hands land on Ruby’s arm, squeezing firmly and she turns to see Emma’s overjoyed face.  “She’s alive,” Emma whispers.  
  
David looks at both of them, his smile fading.  “But...how do we change her back?”

“I believe I can help with that,” yet another voice joins the conversation. Ruby looks around, unable to find who the voice belongs to. A short time later, a blue light is cast upon them. Ruby looks up to find the Blue Fairy has graced them all with her presence. “She’s calling for me.”

“Blue,” Emma greets with a smile, only to be met with confusion.

“That’s right. And you are…?”

Emma realises her mistake and looks away briefly. “Leia.”

Blue raises an eyebrow slightly before shaking her head. “No, that’s not it.” Ruby’s stomach drops. They’ve made it this far, _too_ far, for everything to to be pulled out from under them by the Blue Fairy. “But your secrets can be yours.” Ruby is able to breathe again. “I sense it’s better that way.”

“Can you bring Snow back?” Ruby asks, fearing what might happen if Snow is left as a bug for too long.

Blue tilts her head, seemingly appraising the ladybug before nodding slowly. “Dark magic did this,” she tells the group, “light magic can undo it.” Pulling out her wand, the Blue Fairy waves it around in a circle and Snow White stands before everyone, grinning.

David lets out a surprised laugh and Emma throws herself at her mother. “You’re alive!” she all but yells.

“Oh!” Snow yelps. “It… it appears so…” She tries to extricate herself from Emma’s arms. “Thank you…”

Ruby watches Emma’s face fall and her hollow chest aches for the pain she sees in that fleeting second.  She wants to go to the blonde, but relief that her friend is alive and well takes over.  
  
“Snow!” she exclaims, opening her arms for a hug, which Snow provides without question.  Ruby holds her tightly.  
  
“Red! Your cloak,” Snow gasps, pulling back slightly, her hands resting on Ruby’s waist as she looks down.  “Where is it?”  
  
“It’s...a long story,” Ruby says, her eyes straying to Emma again.  “I’ll fill you in later.”  
  
Snow smiles that wonderful smile, full of trust and belief and Ruby can’t help but pull her back into another hug.  “I’m so glad you’re okay,” she whispers.  How would she have lived in a world where Regina actually _had_ killed Snow?  
  
“Me too,” Snow replies.  “You know me.  I’m hard to get rid of.”  
  
“Don’t I know it?” Ruby says, pulling back.  Snow’s eyes flick to where David is standing around, looking like he doesn’t quite know where he fits.  Ruby smirks.  “You better go thank your dashing Prince.”  
  
Snow rolls her eyes.  “I suppose so.”  With a final squeeze to Ruby’s hands, she steps away to talk quietly to David.  
  
Ruby moves back to stand with Emma.  She rests a hand on her back.  “Looks like we’re back on track, huh?” she says.  
  
“Yeah,” Emma agrees through a hoarse throat. Ruby wraps her arm more fully around Emma’s waist and brings her into a one-armed hug. Emma’s head comes to rest on Ruby’s shoulder and the sadness Ruby can sense rolls off Emma in waves.

 

* * *

 

Ruby’s surprised she’s not the first to wake the following morning after having set up camp for the night. In fact, she’s one of the last; her cellmate is still deep in slumber. Ruby smiles. The poor woman deserves it after having escaped her death. She sits up and rubs her face, the smell of burnt embers still in the air.

“You’re up,” Emma greets.

Ruby nods, clearing her throat. “You should’ve woken me.”

Emma shrugs. “You looked peaceful.” She turns her head and flicks, gesturing to where Snow White and David are off a little ways away talking. “They’re finally warming up to each other.”

“That’s good,” Ruby says with a smile. “That’ll work.”

“Except for one small problem.” There’s a pointed stare at the still slumbering woman before Emma’s eyes are cast on her.

“I had to save her.”

“But she’s supposed to be dead,” Emma counters. “Her being here could have unforeseen consequences… It might still mean that we won’t have a home to return to if she stays.” 

Ruby puts her face into her hands, unable to formulate the words to tell Emma that their home might be completely different because she told Regina too much.  The blonde sits down next to her on the ground, her shoulder touching Ruby’s.

“What’s up?” Emma asks, gently.  “You’re worried Regina might change things?”

“Yeah,” she admits.  “I am.”  She lifts her head and looks at Emma.  “I risked everything in the hope that she’d believe me.”

“I… I’m scared, Ruby,” Emma admits. “Between the two of us, we might’ve really screwed things up.”

Ruby catches herself before she agrees.  Negativity will get them nowhere at this point.  They have to work together to make the best of the situation.  “Well, your parents are back together, Snow’s still alive for Regina to pursue...I guess all that’s different is that Regina knows about the curse, right?”

“Which might change how she goes about it,” Emma says.

“Or it might not,” Ruby says.  “If she knows she’s able to take away Snow’s happiness...that might be enough.”

“I hope so,” Emma says, her eyes drifting to Ruby’s chest.  “How’s the whole heart thing gonna work, by the way?  If you leave your heart in the past...isn’t that kinda risky?”

Ruby puts a hand on her chest, feeling nothing.  “Regina brought her vault to Storybrooke.  So I just have to have faith that my heart will be there when we get back.”  And _not_ think about the thirty plus years Regina will have to crush it if she chooses.

“So,” Emma begins. “We just have to believe that everything will be okay?”

Ruby shrugs with a sad smile.  “Belief is a powerful force,” she says.  “As you know better than most.”  Emma’s belief had broken the first curse. 

Emma nods, offering Ruby a tentative smile.  Ruby wraps an arm around her neck and pulls her into a tight hug.  

“Thanks, Ruby,” Emma murmurs.

“For what?” Ruby asks, surprised at the gratitude.  She releases Emma, moving back to see her face.  The blonde shrugs, embarrassed.

“For the pep talk, or whatever.”  Blue eyes lift to meet Ruby’s.  “I’m really sad I didn’t get to grow up with you as my aunt.”

Tears spring to Ruby’s eyes at the admission.  “Me too,” she whispers, then smiles. “Pretty sure I’d have been the coolest aunt ever.”

“You’ll get to be the cool aunt to my little nameless brother,” Emma says, her eyes dipping to the ground.

“Yeah,” Ruby agrees.  A melancholy sweeps over Emma again, so Ruby pulls her close.  “But I’m here for you too,” she says.  “So if you ever wanna talk about boys or need me to lie to Snow about why you missed your curfew, I’m totally your girl.”  She feels Emma nod.  “And if you don’t need those things, I’m honoured to be your friend.”

Emma laughs into her shoulder.  “Noted, Rubes,” she says, squeezing Ruby tightly before letting go and wiping her face.  She clears her throat.  “We still have to deal with the little problem of our guest,” she says, nodding to the woman who appears to be stirring.

“We take her with us.”

“To the future?” the woman joins in having finally woken up.  
  
“Yes,” Ruby says, turning apologetic eyes on the woman.  “You’re supposed to be dead by now.  If we let you stay here, you’ll change the future for everyone.”  
  
“But...but all I want is to be with my family,” the woman protests.  “I won’t cause trouble, I promise.”  
  
Ruby closes her eyes.  It really is unfair that this woman has to suffer to ensure their future remains in tact.  
  
“If your family are in Storybrooke, then they’ve survived believing you to be dead.  If we change that, we jeopardise everything.”  
  
“You have to trust us,” Emma says.  
  
“With all due respect, I _don’t_ trust you.  That fairy said you were lying,” the woman says, standing up.  Ruby does likewise.  “And _you_ are in thrall to the Evil Queen in this _Storybrooke_.”  She shakes her head.  “So, unless you’re taking me against my will, I shall go and find my family now.”  
  
Before the woman can react, Ruby’s fist connects with her face and she falls to the ground, unconscious.  
  
“Then I guess we’re taking you against your will,” the werewolf mumbles, looking down at the prone body.  
  
“Did you have to hit her in the face?” Emma asks, frowning.  
  
“I was tired of hearing her call Regina the Evil Queen,” Ruby mutters. “Did you have a better idea to get her to come with us?” 

Emma sighs. “You could have at least caught her before she fell.”

Ruby doesn’t have the chance to respond as David comes walking up to the trio, looking confused. “She still sleeping?”

“Uh, yeah,” Emma answers. “What’s up?”

“Has either one of you seen Snow?” He asks, shoving his hands in his pockets. “She went to the stream but she hasn’t -” his face falls and then hardens into a glare. “The ring… she took it!”

“Really?” Emma whines and Ruby understands the sentiment.  “Do you know where she might be headed?”

David sighs. “She was seeking passage on a ship. The troll bridge is the only way to get to the harbour.” He takes off at a run.

“Oh no,” Emma groans. She makes a move to head after her father, but Ruby stops her.  
  
“Emma, that’s where we _want_ them to be. It’s where Snow saved your dad from the trolls.”

“Yes, but the only reason she was able to do that was because she had a weapon -”

“The fairy dust,” Ruby finishes, realisation dawning. “Which she’s already used on herself. Damnit!”

“Come on. They’re gonna need help.”

 

* * *

 

 

Ruby drops the nameless woman on the ground, and crouches down behind a tree with Emma at her side.

“What are they saying?” Emma whispers right into Ruby’s ear, causing the woman to flinch.

Ruby glares at the blonde. “Can you give me more than a millisecond to eavesdrop on the conversation?” She snaps.

“Sorry,” Emma mumbles.

“Shhhhut up! Jeez!” She flicks her eyes over to the scene as David is forced to his knees by a burly troll, with a sword raised high. She’s about to leap to his rescue when a voice sounds.

“Stop!” It belongs to Snow White. Ruby cranes her neck and hones in on her superhuman abilities. “Drop the sword, or I will turn you all into bugs.” Ruby frowns as Snow White produces a vial, wondering how she’ll get away with _that_ threat. “Dark fairy dust. Let him go, or I will be peeling you all off the bottom of my boots.” She rears back, ready to throw, and again Ruby is set to pounce to save them both. But she hears metal clatter to the ground and waits.

“We don’t want any trouble,” the other troll says, bringing up its hands in surrender.

“Good. While you’re at it, give me a reason to forget this ever happened.”

Ruby snorts. Snow White isn’t only saving David, she’s _robbing_ the trolls. She shakes her head, finding herself missing her friend the bandit.  She turns to say as much to Emma and finds the blonde with tears in her eyes as she watches her parents exchange words.  Ruby’s own eyes become blurry as a tear falls down Emma’s cheek and she blinks back her tears, turning to the scene before them just in time to hear David promise to always find Snow.  If Regina were here, she’d be rolling her eyes, but Ruby is as swept along as Emma is at having the privilege of watching her friends fall in love.  As they go their separate ways, Ruby sniffs and blinks until she’s sure her voice will work without wavering.  
  
“That’s it,” she murmurs.  “That’s where they need to be.”  
  
Emma nods, wiping her own tears on her cloak.  “Yeah,” she says.  “And now we need to get to Mr Gold. Rumplestiltskin.  Whatever.”  
  
“And go home,” Ruby confirms.

 

* * *

 

The journey to Rumpel’s home is quick because Ruby sets the pace.  Both she and Emma are panting as they make their way to the room Emma had been to on her previous visit; Emma from the speed and Ruby from the weight she’s carrying.  
  
“We did it!” Emma announces as she pushes through the doors to find Rumple mixing a potion.  
  
“Your parents are together?” he asks.  Ruby’s hackles rise at the sound of that voice, and at the smell of his dark magic.  She can barely refrain from growling.  
  
“They’re right back on track,” Emma tells him, glancing at Ruby with a smile.  “We’re ready to go.”  
  
“I see.”  His metallic eyes land on Ruby, his thin lips twisting into a facsimile of a smile.  “And you brought yer pup.”  
  
A growl _does_ erupt from Ruby’s throat as he says the word, but Emma’s hand on her arm keeps her from moving towards him.  
  
“The three of us need to go back,” Emma says, squeezing Ruby’s wrist in a silent plea.  “How’s the portal coming? Can you open it?”

“I cannot.”

Ruby frowns at his words and points at the vial in his hands. “Then what are you working on?” She demands.

“Oh, this is for me. A forgetting option,” he replies. “I know too much about my future. The only way to protect it, is to forget it.” 

Ruby looks at the blonde, her frown deepens. “Em _ma_ …” Although there’s a fleeting thought that maybe she could ask Rumplestiltskin to double that potion and spike Regina’s next meal.

Emma sighs. “Okay… well what about the wand you said could help us?”

“Can you wield magic? Because, unless you can, you’re not going anywhere dearies.” He reaches for the wand and throws it at the blonde. “Can you?” He grins and giggles maniacally as Emma stares blankly at the stick. “Thought not.”

“If we stay here, we’ll affect your precious future,” Ruby counters, wondering why Emma isn’t using her magic.  “You _need_ to send us back.”

“I don’t _need_ to do anything, wolf,” he sneers.  “My future has happened already in your world, which means you are of no consequence to me.”  
  
Emma is still staring at the wand in her hand.  Ruby hikes her burden further up onto her shoulder and steps closer to the blonde.  “Em,” she begins.  “I don’t think he plans to let us live out our lives here.”  She’s readying herself to either fight or flee, her eyes searching for escape routes if the one they came through isn’t available.

“Oh but that’s where you’re wrong, pup,” Rumplestiltskin tells them.  “I plan to keep you here.  I plan to keep you _safe_ , even.  In a place where even I dare not go.  Where I store the magic that is too dark or unpredictable even for me.”  
  
“Rumplestiltsk-”  Before the word is fully out of Emma’s mouth, the three of them are being engulfed in a cloud of purple smoke that reeks of the Dark One.  Ruby turns her face into the body over her shoulder to try to escape from the smell.  When it clears, they’re in another room, but in the same building.

Emma is shaking her head, walking around.  Ruby lays the woman down on a table and rolls her shoulders, trying to work out the kinks.

“No,” Emma whispers.  “That bastard.”

Ruby sighs.  She knows from experience that Rumplestiltskin isn’t to be trusted.  She detests the man, not only for his part in Regina’s past, and Snow’s, but also because of his treatment of Belle.  Why she advised Emma to seek him out is now a mystery to her.  She should have had enough faith in Regina to believe she’d get them back home.

“At least I’m me again.” Emma’s voice startles Ruby out of her musings long enough to look over at the blonde who is turning away from a stand alone mirror in the middle of the room, wiping her tears away. Ruby immediately goes over to her friend, wrapping her arms around her in comfort.

“We need to find a way out,” Ruby murmurs into Emma’s ear.

Moving away from Ruby, she shakes her head. “There isn’t one,” Emma tells her, defeated. “And there isn’t any point, anyway. You heard what he said.”

“Yeah, I did,” Ruby snaps, becoming increasingly annoyed by how easily Emma seems to be giving up. “He said we needed magic. Last I checked, the saviour has magic.”

“Not anymore,” Emma admits, hanging her head. “I lost it.”

“Your powers should have been restored when Zelena died. In the same way that Regina’s heart was returned to her.”

Emma scowls; she looks hurt. “You think I’m faking it?” she questions. “Believe me, if I could make it work, I would!” 

“I think not having magic makes it a lot easier for you to run back to New York and pretend to be somebody else. You’re not. It’s time to _stop_ running.”

Ruby can hear Emma’s heart hammering in her chest, matching the fire in her eyes as she advances on her.  
  
“You think I don’t know that, Ruby?” she asks.  “My whole life, that’s what I’ve done; I’ve run away.  It’s how I _survived_ long enough to get to this point in my life.  But...but believe me, I want this to work.  I wanna get back to Storybrooke.”  She turns away, hiding her face.  “I wanna stop running.”

Resisting the urge to reach out to the blonde, Ruby stays where she is. “What’s changed?” she asks, softly.

When Emma turns back, there are fresh tears on her cheeks.  “Watching my mother die,” she says, her voice roughened by emotion.  “Thinking she was dead, thinking I’d never see her again.”  She pauses and swallows.  “And not in a ‘oh shit I’m never going to be born’ kinda way, but just because I...I love her.”  She sniffs and looks up at Ruby.  “I was _so_ relieved she was okay.  And I hugged her.  And do you know what I saw in her eyes?”  Ruby does know.  She saw it too. It’s the same thing she saw in Regina’s eyes, so she knows how much it hurts. “Nothing.”  Emma looks down.  “She didn’t know who I was.”  She throws an arm out towards Ruby.  “She was over the moon to see _you_ , but I didn’t get a passing glance.”  Ruby opens her mouth to speak but Emma beats her to it.  “I had her right there in front of me, but she wasn’t really there.  And that’s what I’ve been doing to her since I met her.  I keep _leaving_.  I keep running away and leaving her.  Leaving everyone.”  She coughs to clear her throat, her wet eyes meeting Ruby’s resolutely.  “And it’s gonna stop. When Henry brought me to Storybrooke, he brought me _home._ ”  She laughs, sadly.  “I guess Neal was right.”

“About what?” Ruby whispers, unwilling to interrupt Emma when she’s being so open.

“He...he told me that you don’t have a home until you miss it,” Emma tells her.  “Being with my parents these last couple of days, but not _really_ being with them?  I’ve never missed them more.  Storybrooke is my home.  My parents and Henry are my home.”  Ruby’s eyes flick down to the wand in Emma’s hand; it’s glowing.  She smiles.  Emma frowns at the expression.  “What?

Ruby nods at Emma’s hand.  “Look’s like you’ve got your mojo back, Em.”  Emma’s smile is almost as bright as the light from the wand.  Ruby doesn’t want to waste any time and she hurries to hoist the unconscious woman into her arms; slightly concerned that she may have hit her a little too hard.  “So come on, let’s go home.” She grins when Emma nods. It takes  a flick of the wand to open up the portal, and Ruby can’t go through it quick enough.

 

* * *

 

The three of them land, unceremoniously, in the same barn Ruby and Emma had been sucked into.  Their nameless travelling companion is still unconscious, but Emma is scrambling to her feet before they’ve even had time to draw breath.    
  
“Come on,” she urges, reaching down to help Ruby up.  It’s clear that Emma’s epiphany about where home is has her buzzing with energy, desperate to see those close to her.  Ruby can’t share her enthusiasm.  Although, Emma’s continued existence, and the fact that they have arrived back in, what seems to be, Storybrooke, tells her that at least Snow went on to have a kid, and that the dark curse was cast by someone.    
  
“You go on ahead,” she tells Emma.  “I’ll see if I can wake her up.” She nods to the prone figure, who looks like she’s starting to stir.  “If not, I’ll carry her back.”  
  
“You sure?” Emma checks, though she’s practically bouncing.  
  
“Go, give your parents a hug,” Ruby tells her.  Emma grins at her and sprints out of the barn.  Ruby turns with a sigh to find the woman sitting up, a hand going to cradle her cheek.  She looks up at Ruby.  
  
“You hit me,” she complains.  
  
“Yeah, sorry about that,” Ruby says.  “We couldn’t leave you there when you were supposed to die.”  Though, Ruby thinks, everything could be completely messed up because of _her_.    
  
“So...what have you done?  You’ve brought me to this realm you told me about?  Where the Evil Queen is your... _lover_?”  
  
“I guess we’ll see,” Ruby mumbles.  “C’mon.”  She reaches a hand down to the other woman, who hesitates before taking it and allowing Ruby to pull her to her feet.  
  
The walk back into town is mostly spent in silence, as Ruby looks for signs that things have changed.  It’s only when they reach the town itself that her companion starts babbling about the lights, and the buildings and every little thing.  Ruby doesn’t allow the fact that everything looks the same to comfort her.  She won’t be convinced until she looks into Regina’s eyes.  
  
She does allow herself a sigh of relief as they turn onto Main Street and see the sign for _Granny’s_.  At least _she’s_ here. It isn’t until they reach the doors to the diner that she realises her companion is still talking.  
  
“Please be quiet,” Ruby tells her, barely holding herself together. When wide eyes are set upon her, Ruby feels the guilt course through her, in amongst her worries. “I’m sorry. It’s just… I’m about to walk in there and find out exactly how screwed I am. And I can’t deal with all your questions about the twenty-first century right now.” She offers up a weary smile. “You’re _alive_. Bask in it and ask questions later.”  
  
“Being alive means nothing if my family isn’t here,” the woman shoots back.  
  
Ruby closes her eyes. She has been so caught up in her own worries that she hadn’t stopped to think about what her cellmate might be experiencing. She’s in a strange land where she’s being told that everything she knows has changed - including fearing Regina. On top of wondering if her own family survived and not knowing if they moved on without her. She feels horribly guilty. “I’m sorry,” she apologises again. “With everything that’s happened… I haven’t even asked you your name. Or asked about your family.”  
  
“I’m Marian,” she tells her with some hesitation. “My husband is Robin.” A smile spreads across her lips. “And our son… his name is Roland.”  
  
Ruby cocks her head to the side in thought. Marian… And Robin. The names sound _awfully_ familiar. Then it hits her. “Robin _Hood_?” Off Marian’s nod, Ruby continues with a small smile. “And _Maid_ Marian. Of course.” Her grin grows as she remembers all of Robin’s help back in the Enchanted Forest and the fact that both he and their son are very much alive. “Marian, you should go inside. Robin and Roland-”  
  
“They’re alive?” Marian asks.  
  
Ruby nods, feeling like she’s done something right. “You deserve to have your happy ending.”  
  
“They’re inside?”  
  
“If we’ve come back to the point in time in which we left, then yes. They’ll be inside.”  
  
Marian takes a step, and stops, turning to face Ruby. “And what of your Queen?”  
  
Ruby stares at the doors in front of them. “Well… Emma hasn’t come running out screaming. So, that’s something.”  
  
“Then let’s go inside.”  
  
“You go ahead,” Ruby tells her. “I… I need a minute. Or five.” A hand comes to rest on her shoulder and she looks up to see Marian looking at her with concern, though there’s a smile on her face.  
  
“Thank you. For bringing me back with you. For bringing me back to my family.”  
  
“You’re welcome.”  
  
Marian squeezes Ruby’s shoulder gently before turning and walking inside. As the door opens, Ruby tries to take in as much as she can see, which isn’t much, but she can make out the banner that’s still hanging up, so she’s certain they’ve landed where they left. She rubs her hands over her face and sighs, deciding she’s put it off long enough. Steeling herself, she starts up the steps and puts her hand on the door, ignoring the slight tremor. She hums the death march to herself before throwing the door open. The diner stops and Ruby holds her breath. She scans the room, barely registering Marian, Robin and Roland hugging each other and holding on to each other like life preservers.  
  
Her chest grows tighter and she starts to panic when she can’t locate Regina anywhere.  Just as her eyes begin to fill with tears, a familiar scent pricks at her nose and she inhales deeply, relief filling her lungs as much as the air does.  The door to the kitchen swings open and Regina and Granny come out, having a heated discussion.  She should be able to hear what they’re saying, but her senses are too overwhelmed by the very fact Regina is here, and everything is the same.  She brings a shaking hand up to cover her mouth, willing herself not to cry.  Just then, Regina catches her eye.  A moment passes, then two, it feels like forever.  Regina frowns, ignoring Granny and storming over to Ruby.  The younger woman holds her breath.  
  
“Where have you _been_?” Regina demands.  “I’ve been worried _sick!_ ”  She looks Ruby over, seemingly scanning for injuries.  “I cast a locator spell, and it didn’t find you.  I thought you were _dead!_ ”  
  
Ruby lets out a loud laugh, but it’s taken over by a sob as she throws herself at Regina, wrapping her arms tight around her and pulling her in. Her emotions have finally hit the surface and the tears come in waves. She pulls back out of the hug and searches Regina’s face, making sure every line, crevice, and mark is exactly the way they were when she left. She crashes her lips to Regina’s. “I’m sorry,” she whispers hurriedly against Regina’s lips. “I love you. I’m sorry.”  
  
“Why are you sorry?” Regina asks, appearing concerned by the reaction.  “What happened?”  
  
“You forgot!” Ruby declares, with a huge grin.  “You believed in us enough to forget!  You _wanted_ us enough to forget!”  
  
Regina’s frown deepens, her eyes scanning Ruby’s face.  “Did you hit your head, dear?”  
  
Ruby shakes her head, tears still evident on her face, refusing to let Regina go. “Stuff happened,” Ruby tells her. She’s not intending to keep this ‘stuff’ a secret, but for the moment, she just wants to revel in being close to Regina after nearly losing her. She can handle getting into trouble for messing with the past later. “And then some more stuff happened. But it’s okay now. I’m back. _We’re_ back.”  
  
Henry has approached the two in the middle of Ruby’s ramble and frowns. “You’re weird.”  
  
“Henry!” Regina scolds.  
  
Ruby only reaches out and grabs the teen by the front of his shirt and pulls him into the hug. “And _you’re_ staying.”  
  
“I know,” he says, his voice muffled against Ruby’s shoulder.  He pulls back a little  “Emma’s being weird too, but she says we’re staying.”  He turns to his mother.  “I’d have stayed anyway.”  
  
Regina’s smile is worth everything Ruby’s been through.  She pulls Henry in and kisses his hair.  Ruby knows she should let the mother and son have their moment, but she can’t resist pulling them closer.  “Oh God, I love you both so much.”  
  
“Perhaps your assessment of the situation was right, Henry,” Regina says, though she allows the embrace, her forehead pressed to Ruby’s cheek.  “She _is_ being weird.”  
  
"Oh, like that's news to anybody,” she scoffs, looking anywhere but at Regina. It isn’t until she feels gentle fingers under her chin, guiding her face up, that she has no choice. Regina’s eyes are questioning, almost suspicious.  
  
“Ruby,” she begins. “What did you do?”  
  
“Nothing that needs to be discussed right now because we are out celebrating.” She moves out of the embrace, but keeps close, pulling Henry and Regina into her sides and draping an arm around both of them.  
  
Regina nods. “So I should just ignore the fact that Robin Hood is embracing his dead wife?”  
  
“Yes,” the wolf replies. “For tonight at least. Because tonight I just want you to hold me. And then tomorrow, we can discuss all of the weird and wonderful things I did.”  
  
“How much trouble are you in?” Henry asks. “On a scale of one to ten.”  
  
Regina glances between the two with an amused expression and Ruby waves a dismissive hand at the teenager. “What’s important is that everyone is alive and well.”  
  
Henry looks over to his mother. “I’m gonna say twenty-five.”  
  
Regina shakes her head. “Forty, at least.”  
  
“Shhh!” Ruby scolds. “Mary Margaret and David look like they’re about to tell everyone the baby’s name.”  
  
“Ruby,” Regina warns. “You _know_ I don’t like being kept in the dark.”  
  
Ruby sighs, knowing she can’t get away with this for much longer, but still willing to try. “The conversation isn’t over, Regina. I promise. Just… let’s get through the naming ceremony and then I’ll fill you in, okay?”  
  
The next voice that is heard belongs to David. Standing with his wife he clears his throat in an effort to silence everybody. Failing that, he picks up his glass of ale and a discarded piece of silverware to tap it with. “Excuse me. If I could have everyone’s attention for just a moment…” When the diner finally quiets down, he continues. “This coronation ceremony is something we have looked forward to for a very long time. The arrival of our new son has been a cause of great joy for our family,” David pauses to look down at his son in Mary Margaret’s arms and smiles, looking back up at the crowd, “and we hope you can share in it as we name him for a hero. Someone who saved every one of us. We loved him, and he loved back.”  
  
“People of Storybrooke,” Mary Margaret continues, “it is our great joy to introduce you to our son, Prince Neal.”  
  
The diner erupts into cheers and claps before all conversation resumes as people go up to ‘officially’ meet the baby. Henry looks at his mother who nods over to where his grandparents are. “Off you go,” she tell her son with a smile. “Go say hello to your Uncle Neal.” It earns Regina a grin before Henry goes bounding off to his grandparents and Emma, all of whom are cooing over Neal.  
  
“You wanna go say hi?” Ruby asks, conscious of how uncomfortable Regina might be. Ruby knows, as well as Regina does, that she was the reason both David and Mary Margaret have been waiting a long time for this. And while her friends are all too happy to extend their joy to Regina, Ruby notices that the woman hangs back. Ruby respects that, but she also wants to break that habit by giving her gentle nudges every now and then.  
  
“Maybe once the crowd dies down,” Regina tells her. “Too many people around, fussing over him might upset him.”  
  
“Okay,” Ruby agrees, wrapping her arms more tightly around Regina as they both watch Henry greet his Uncle Neal for the first time.  Ruby turns her head and presses her lips to Regina’s forehead, closing her eyes as she lets relief flood her body.  Things could have so easily gone very badly wrong, but Regina had saved them.  Regina had seen enough in her to believe in their future.  Ruby’s smile blossoms against Regina’s skin.  She’s back, she has Regina in her arms, her heart is presumably still in one piece somewhere; life is pretty damn good.  
  
“You are, as you and Henry like to say, ‘freaking me out’ a little,” Regina admits, pulling back to look up at Ruby.  “I’m going to need at least a brief overview of what happened to you and Miss Swan.”  
  
Ruby sighs, but it’s a happy one.  “We went back in time. I bumped into you,  got thrown in your dungeon, convinced you that we were meant to be, found Emma and came back to the future.”  
  
Regina’s eyebrows creep higher with each word uttered.  
  
“And now I’m going to need _more_ than a brief overview of what happened to the two of you before I lose my temper.”  
  
“It ends well, obviously,” Ruby tries to reassure her.  
  
“That is not the point,” Regina counters, her voice raised. She has attracted the views of some of the people standing close by and Ruby paints on a smile for all to see, laying a hand on Regina’s forearm.  
  
“I know it’s not, but now is neither the time or the place to get into it.”  
  
Regina looks like she wants to argue, but it goes beyond a simple need to be informed of the proceedings.  There’s genuine fear in her eyes.  She presses her lips together and looks away from Ruby, folding her arms over her stomach.  Ruby frowns, squeezing Regina gently.  
  
“Hey,” she murmurs.  “I’ll tell you everything you want to know, I promise.  Just...I didn’t think you’d want to do it here.”  
  
When Regina turns back to face her, the fear is still there, coupled with resignation.  “You know, then.”  When Ruby’s confused frown deepens, she continues.  “You saw.  What I was like.”  
  
Ruby’s heart drops as Regina speaks. She flicks her eyes over to Mary Margaret and David who are still surrounded by people wanting to look at and coo over Neal. They won’t be missed. She runs her hand down to catch Regina’s in her own. “Come on.” She tugs and pulls, leading her out of the diner, sensing Regina’s anxieties grow. She takes them to a back corner around the side of the diner where there are a few tables and chairs set up. Ruby encourages Regina to sit down and Ruby does the same, bringing their chairs close together, their knees touching. She leans forward and places her hands on Regina’s thighs, rubbing her thumbs over them. “I’ve always known who you were. And I know who you _are_.” Ruby gives her a smile. “ _Nothing_ about what I saw has changed how I feel about you. I love you. Even when you locked me up in your dungeon, silver-tipped arrows at the ready, sassing me all over the place… I _still_ loved you.”  
  
Regina’s face is getting whiter, and she closes her eyes at the mention of the arrows.  “Do you know how easily I could have killed you?”  She shakes her head.  “What on earth did you even do to draw attention to yourself enough that I took you prisoner?  I thought you were smarter than that.”  
  
“I gave myself up,” Ruby says.  “I...I thought I could convince you to believe me.  And hey, guess what?”  She squeezes Regina’s leg.  “I _did_.”  
  
“Did she…” Regina closes her eyes. “Did _I_ hurt you in any way?”  
  
“ _No_ ,” Ruby tells her vehemently. “Not at all. You threatened to, on multiple occasions. But you didn’t.”  
  
Regina shakes her head. “I don’t believe you. You’re keeping something from me.”  
  
Ruby kicks herself for being so easy to read. “It’s not important right now.”  She shifts uncomfortably in her seat, knowing there really is no way to avoid telling Regina about this; she needs her to put her heart back in.  
  
“Ruby!” Regina stamps her foot on the ground and stands up, walking away from the table they’re sitting at and moving toward the fence at the front of the diner, leaning against it. Ruby is immediately by her side.  
  
“There… may have been a _heart_ thing…”  
  
Regina turns to her, face frozen in horror.  Her hand goes to Ruby’s chest, pressing firmly against it.  Her eyes grow wide and she shifts her hand, trying to feel for a beat.   
  
“I took your heart?” she whispers.  
  
“You did that a long time ago, Regina,” Ruby says, covering Regina’s hand with her own.  “The past version of you...just...borrowed it for a while.”  
  
Regina’s eyes are burning with something akin to fury and Ruby decides now is not the time to be cute.  

  
“But it’s fine!” she hurries to continue.  “Because you must still have it somewhere, so we’ll just go get it and everything will be back to normal.”  
  
“I have no memory of _taking_ it, Ruby,” Regina fumes.  “So how am I supposed to know where it _is_?”  
  
“Uh, well, your big creepy vault full of boxes with hearts in them would probably be a safe bet,” Ruby says, an eyebrow raised.  “So let’s start there.”  
  
Regina merely glares at her and for a second, Ruby worries that she might really be pissed off.  Her hand is grabbed and she’s being yanked along behind Regina before she has much more time to think about it.  Ruby manages as a small smile at the shorter woman’s angry marching steps.  Regina pushes the door to the diner open and pulls Ruby inside.  She looks around until she locates Henry, who is standing by Mary Margaret’s shoulder, and goes to him.  
  
“Henry,” Regina begins, her tone clipped.  “I’m afraid I’m going to have to cut our evening short so that I can go and correct some _idiot’s_ mistake.”  
  
Emma shoots Ruby a sympathetic glance.  “She found out, huh?”  
  
Ruby’s torn between responding to Emma’s question and protesting at the use of the word ‘idiot’, but is prevented from doing either when Mary Margaret cuts in.  
  
“What idiot?  What mistake?  What did she find out?  Who is ‘ _she’_?”  The dark haired woman looks between her daughter, her former-stepmother and her best-friend, waiting for an answer.  
  
“I’m the idiot,” Ruby says, with a sigh, raising her hand.  “I left my heart in-”  
  
“San Francisco?” David cuts in, earning him impatient frowns from Snow and Ruby, a death-glare from Regina and an affectionate eye-roll from his daughter.  
  
“In the Enchanted Forest,” Ruby continues.  “With, you know-” She shuffles her feet, her eyes flicking to Regina. “And Regina just found out.”  
  
“Well, you’re still alive,” Henry pipes up with a grin.  He shifts his attention to Regina.  “So you must’ve kept it safe.”  
  
“Apparently so,” Regina says, her eyes softening a little.    
  
Jumping on this slight thaw, Ruby interjects.  “A Confessor told you that we were going to be together.  In the future.”  She squeezes the hand still holding hers.  “She told you that you’d have to make yourself forget ever meeting me to ensure it happened, otherwise you might do something to change it.”  Ruby can’t stop the grin that breaks out over her face as she remembers what it means.  “And you don’t remember it, so you must have believed me, on some level, you must have wanted to believe me.”  
  
Of course, Mary Margaret tears up at this assessment.  “Oh, that’s just about the most romantic thing I’ve ever heard.”  
  
Ruby stops herself from mentioning the later, decidedly less happy, events, unsure if Emma has done so already.  Regina, already uncomfortable and now even more so as Mary Margaret starts to get emotional, sighs.

  
“Anyway, Henry, Ruby and I are leaving, now,” she says.  “Enjoy your evening and I’ll see you tomorrow.”  
  
Henry comes over to Regina and gives her a hug, forcing Ruby to let go of her hand.  “Sure, Mom.  I hope you find Ruby’s heart.”  
  
Emma gets up too, and moves to embrace Ruby.  “Thank you,” she whispers.  “For helping me find my home.”  
  
Ruby holds Emma tightly, smiling.  “No problem,” she says.  “Thank you for busting me out of jail, Sheriff.”  
  
The blonde laughs against her shoulder, squeezing her once before stepping back.  Her place is immediately taken up by Henry.  She wraps her arms around the ever growing boy and hugs him.

  
“She won’t be mad at you for long,” Henry tells her, loud enough that Regina hears and raises an eyebrow.  “That’s her ‘I’m acting mad because I’m worried’ face.”  Ruby meets Regina’s eyes, and can tell she’s fighting a smile.  Ruby doesn’t bother to hide her own.  
  
“Yeah, I’m getting to recognise that one,” she admits as Henry steps out of her arms.  
  
Regina huffs.  “Well, perhaps if people I care about would stop doing ridiculous things, I wouldn’t have to use it so often.”  She reaches out and takes Ruby’s hand again.  But this time the grip isn’t as desperate and, after a moment, Regina slides her fingers through Ruby’s, linking them together.   She turns to Mary Margaret and takes a small step forward.  With her free hand, she gently touches the baby’s tiny fist where he’s waving it in the air.  
  
“It was lovely to meet you, Prince Neal,” she says and Ruby watches Mary Margaret’s face flush with happiness.

The familiar swirl of Regina’s magic envelops them, when it clears, they’re standing in the graveyard in front of Regina’s father’s mausoleum.  Ruby shivers, she’s never liked the graveyard; her nose is too sensitive for it.  She squeezes Regina’s hand, causing the other woman to look over at her.  Her face is serious and Ruby guesses that she’s not out of trouble yet.  
  
“Well,” Regina begins.  “Let’s get this over with.”  
  
There’s a slight tremor to Regina’s voice; she’s worried.  Ruby doesn’t move from her spot, which draws Regina to a halt.  Using their joined hands, Ruby pulls Regina into her arms, cradling her head against her shoulder.  Regina’s hand lands on her chest to brace herself.  
  
“It’ll be alright,” Ruby assures her.  Having gone from absolute despair to discovering nothing major has changed has given Ruby quite  an optimistic outlook.  “We’re here.  That has to mean you kept it, right?”  
  
Regina sighs.  “It means no such thing, Ruby.”  She taps Ruby’s chest.  “What’s important right now is that it isn’t in _here_.  And we need to see if we can rectify that.”  She pulls away, letting go of Ruby’s hand and using magic to open the doors to the crypt.  Ruby follows her in, feeling chastened.  Another wave of her hand and the sarcophagus moves to the side, revealing the stairway to the vault below.  Ruby’s never been down there and she’s more on edge than she’d like to be.  With each step, the air grows mustier and more filled with magic.  It’s Regina’s magic, so it wraps around Ruby like a welcoming blanket.    
  
Arriving in the vault, Ruby takes a moment to look at the various objects and books that are scattered around the tomb.    
  
“Don’t _touch_ anything,” Regina warns as she makes her way deeper into the room.  
  
Ruby raises an eyebrow.  She trails behind Regina, making sure to run her fingers along several artefacts on her way.  
  
“I saw that,” Regina drawls, causing Ruby’s arm to snap to her side.  
  
An impressive cabinet of sorts looms into view.  It’s beautifully crafted and is made up of several drawers.  The implications of what was, or is, held inside them, is slightly disturbing and Ruby pushes it out of her mind.  She lifts her nose, trying to discern her own scent from the confusing bombardment of smells hitting her.  Regina moves forward, lifting a hand which starts glowing purple.  One of the drawers pops open without warning, startling Ruby enough to make her jump.  
  
Regina lets out a soft noise of surprise herself.  Or possibly relief.  She pulls the box out fully, holding it in both hands.  A tap on the lid and it opens to reveal a bright red heart, beating strongly.  Ruby brings a hand up to cover her mouth, realising that she must have been a little worried about it not being here.  Regina scoops the heart out of its container tenderly, holding it like it is made of fine glass.  Ruby watches her as she examines it, turning it from side to side.  
  
“What is it?” Ruby asks, her voice soft in the echoing chamber.  
  
Regina shakes her head as she meets Ruby’s eyes.  “I can’t imagine what you said to me back then that would’ve caused me to keep this, instead of crushing it before Snow White’s eyes.”  With her free hand she reaches out to shove Ruby’s shoulder.  “And I can’t believe you’d be _stupid_ enough to get close enough to let me take it in the first place.”  
  
Ruby moves with Regina’s weak shove, grinning.  “I just told you about what we have now,” she explains.  “I promised that you’d be happy.”  
  
“And I just took you at your word?” Regina asks.  
  
“Apparently so,” Ruby says, nodding at the heart beating in Regina’s hand.  “Unless this is an extremely elaborate plot to destroy Mary Margaret’s happiness.”  Even as she says the words, she doesn’t believe them.  
  
A sculpted eyebrow creeps up Regina’s forehead and her lips quirk at the edges.  “Well, wouldn’t that just be a master stroke?”  Ruby can tell she’s straining to keep from smiling.  “And how do you know that’s _not_ my plan?”  
  
Ruby’s grin grows and she takes a step closer to Regina. Lifting her hand, she traces the outline of Regina’s lips with a finger, moving up her scar, past her nose to the slight lines by the side of her eye.  “Because I know you.  And as much as you think you’re good at hiding your emotions, you’re not.  You love me.”  
  
A glimmer of tears in Regina’s eyes catches the candlelight.  “I do,” she whispers.  “Even if you _are_ an idiot.”  
  
A laugh bubbles up from Ruby’s chest.  “You love me _because_ I’m an idiot,” she corrects.    
  
“That’s entirely possible,” Regina concedes with a roll of her eyes.  
  
“So kiss this idiot,” Ruby says, tilting her head and leaning in.  
  
“No,” Regina says, halting Ruby’s progress.  “I’m still mad at you.”  
  
Ruby frowns.  “For giving you my heart?” she asks.  
  
“For jumping through portals to save stupid blondes,” Regina huffs.  “I know you enjoy rescuing damsels in distress, dear, but I’d appreciate you _not_ putting yourself in quite so much danger in future.”  
  
Ruby’s hands drop to Regina’s waist, tugging her closer.  “You know I’d do it again,” she murmurs, half-apologetically.  
  
Regina sighs.  “I know you would,” she says. “But that doesn’t make you any less of an idiot, and it doesn’t make me any less angry.”  
  
Resting her forehead against Regina’s, Ruby sways them gently.  “How about you put my heart back in, and I work on being less of an idiot so that you can be less angry.”  
  
“I could have lost you,” Regina whispers.  “She... _I_ could have killed you.  Then Emma would have come back without you and I...I...don’t know what I would have done.”  
  
Ruby wraps her arms more fully around Regina, pulling her tight against her body.  She’s more than aware of that scenario, having pictured it a few times as she sat in Regina’s dungeon, awaiting execution.  “I know,” she soothes.  “But that didn’t happen.  I’m here.  We’re both here and we’re together.  I’d say things turned out pretty well.”  
  
A hand skims up her back and tangles in the hair at the nape of her neck, pulling her into a deep kiss.  She kisses back, allowing Regina to set the pace.  There’s a moment of pain as Regina thrusts her hand into her chest, but it’s followed swiftly by a torrent of emotion as the full force of her love and happiness floods her system.  Her arms tighten around Regina as her heart is released and Regina’s hand leaves her chest.  
  
The kiss ends gradually, leaving them in an embrace, staring into one another’s eyes.    
  
“So, Marty McFly,” Regina says.  “Can we go home now?”  
  
Ruby’s eyes light up.  “You’ve seen that movie?”  
  
“Darling, I lived in this town for thirty years with very little outside contact,” Regina says with a rueful smile.  “I’ve seen almost every movie in the video store.”  
  
Ruby laughs.  “I love learning new stuff about you,” she says.  “And anyway, I was more like the Doc.  Emma was Marty.”  
  
“Well, as long as she didn’t end up in a compromising position with her mother, I’m sure she’s fine.”  
  
“No.  And ew.”  Ruby scrunches her nose up.  “I’ll tell you what happened with Emma tomorrow.  Right now I just want to go home and worship my queen.”  She wiggles her eyebrows.  “All night long.”  
  
Regina smiles, tightening her grip on Ruby.  “Great Scot,” she murmurs, before they are consumed in a cloud of purple smoke.

 

 


End file.
